Palace Attendant
The Empress Dowager may have believed that the new emperor would not let Zhuang Qingdi and others off easily, and thus had the new emperor deal with them.
Five years ago, stimulated by the deaths of Zhao Wan, Wang Zang, and others, the new emperor indeed couldn't control his emotions and even considered dismembering Zhuang Qingdi.
But as time went by, many things faded from his memory, and his emotions gradually stabilized.
Looking at Zhuang Qingdi kneeling in the main hall of the Weiyang Palace awaiting his fate, his eyes shifted back and forth, but he did not choose to kick him while he was down at this moment.
Compared to the aging Xu Chang, Zhuang Qingdi is still young and capable.
The new emperor can accept Han Anguo, and he can also accept Zhuang Qingdi.
As the most trusted official of Anle Palace, Zhuang Qingdi had no choice but to rely on the new emperor if he wanted to settle down and make a living in Changxin Palace.
The atmosphere in the imperial court was extremely subtle. On one side was the emperor, who had few trusted confidants; on the other side was the Anle Palace faction, whose members had scattered after the fall of the emperor; and on the third side was the Changxin Palace faction, which had gathered outside the Weiyang Palace hall, waiting to be summoned.
Many people were waiting for the young, legitimate, but powerless Great Han emperor to speak in the court.
"Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingdi's inadequate handling of the funeral arrangements has caused the imperial family to lose all face. They are unworthy of their positions, overstepping their bounds and failing to act effectively. Beheading them would not be an exaggeration," the new emperor said. "However, I remember that Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingdi did not back down an inch when faced with a powerful enemy, and they still have a shred of Han Chinese spirit. I do not wish to extinguish that spirit!"
In the imperial court, Zhuang Qingdi remained lying on the ground with his head down, while the officials exchanged bewildered glances. Behind the screen, the Empress Dowager's brows were already slightly furrowed.
"Xu Chang is old and seriously ill. I hereby grant him permission to resign from his post as Prime Minister and return to his residence to receive treatment." The new emperor quickly added, "Zhuang Qingdi's salary of one thousand shi is reduced, and his official rank is demoted to that of Grand Master of the Palace. He should reflect on his actions!"
"Slow..."
"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty!"
As the Empress Dowager rose from behind the screen to voice her objection, Zhuang Qingdi slammed his head repeatedly against the hall floor, and Xu Anru also knelt down and kowtowed quickly.
It's understandable that the Empress Dowager stood up to object; under normal procedures, Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingdi shouldn't have been able to withdraw so easily.
The power held by the three high-ranking officials is too great, and the wealth and resources that Anle Palace has acquired over the years are difficult to calculate. If these people are not thoroughly punished and their various connections are not fully exposed, and the entire chain of events is not dealt with, the enormous profits involved will be lost.
In such a situation, if one side makes concessions, there is no point in pursuing further investigations, and many stakeholders can sever ties and escape justice.
"Your Majesty, former Chancellor Wei Wan and Imperial Censor Zhi Buyi failed to properly handle the funeral arrangements during the late Emperor's mourning period. There are precedents for this!"
Behind the screen, the Empress Dowager looked at him with a mixture of disappointment and frustration. She muttered through gritted teeth, just as the new emperor turned to look at her.
"Does Mother intend to erase this fighting spirit?"
The new emperor began to whisper.
Before the Qin Dynasty, it was not uncommon for the king and his ministers to fight in the court, and officials such as the prime minister even had the power to dismiss the king.
After the Qin Dynasty unified China, the emperor's power became extremely delicate and began to rise to the highest level.
However, the Qin Dynasty maintained order for too short a period after unification, leaving the succeeding Great Han Dynasty with little to follow, as even the court attire had never been completely standardized.
Everything proceeded amidst bumps and setbacks, and punishments were often carried out based on precedents.
With each new emperor comes a new court; the Wei and Zhi families have completely declined, and normally the Zhuang and Xu families should follow suit.
The Empress Dowager had her own considerations, and the new emperor also had his own thoughts.
He offered a reason that was difficult to refute, which made the Empress Dowager frown.
"How can that little bit of courage outweigh such a grave mistake!"
The Empress Dowager had some charges against Zhuang Qingdi Zhuang Qingdi and Xu Chang, but these charges were not enough to warrant their arrest and imprisonment.
If she doesn't punish Zhuang Qingdi and others for their poor handling of the funeral arrangements, she won't be able to play her next cards.
While the gains from Anle Palace's five years of controlling the court could be estimated, the Empress Emperor Jing Jing's reign was immeasurable, and it also benefited Princess Dou and others for no reason.
"Mother, don't forget, those sorcerers have only disappeared, not died. If Uncle succeeds as Prime Minister, what will he do if those sorcerers return in the future?"
The new emperor responded in a whisper.
The complexity of court politics stems from differing interests. Taking advantage of his public presence and influence, the new emperor also makes the most of his public power.
Regardless of whether the Empress Dowager is his mother or someone else, any power that is not restrained by the emperor is likely to get out of control, and therefore it is necessary to leave behind opponents.
Compared to the Empress Dowager, the new emperor was still willing to follow Emperor Jing's teachings and maintain a balance of power and opposition as much as possible before he had enough strength.
His whispered words made the Empress Dowager frown.
If she could uproot the Anle Palace lineage through Zhuang Qingdi and others, she wouldn't care about the consequences for Tian Fen and the others when they faced difficulties in the future.
For the Empress Dowager, without an opponent, there were no consequences.
But after pondering for a few seconds, she seemed to remember something and finally nodded, no longer objecting to the new emperor's arrangement. Instead, she urged the new emperor to appoint Tian Fen and others to high-ranking positions in the name of legitimacy.
"Xuan Tian Fen!"
"Proclaim peace and stability to Han!"
"Xuan Tiansheng!"
"King Xuan, please listen!"
Those who have their crowns removed will be given positions of power.
If Tian Fen and others were to rise to power, they would operate according to the existing court system previously managed by Anle Palace, thus reducing the new emperor's room for maneuver.
One by one, officials were summoned to the imperial court, among whom were some extremely young faces.
Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingdi withdrew, and many of the Nine Ministers wore expressions of fear, except for Cheng Bushi, Li Guang, and others who remained calm and composed.
Those who are capable need not worry; even if they maintain a neutral stance, they will not face retaliation at this time.
Ultimately, the imperial court needs favored ministers to control power, but it also needs capable people, especially during periods of power transition.
The newly appointed Prime Minister Tian Fen was indeed very powerful in building a new generation of court officials, but he did not neglect Cheng Bushi and others, and even maintained their positions as Cheng Bushi of the Nine Ministers.
The new emperor also frequently tried to insert some new people when Tian Fen made his appointments.
"Have you finished appointing the officials you wanted to appoint? I also want to appoint a few officials!"
Tian Fen kept stuffing people into positions of real power.
Many of these people were retainers of Tian Fen, and they were promoted out of thin air without ever having held any official position, which made the new emperor frown.
He spoke several times before Tian Fen finally calmed down a bit.
Order: Sang Hongyang shall be appointed as a Palace Attendant!
Order: Han Yan is appointed as a Grand Master of the Palace!
Order: Dongfang Shuo shall be appointed as a court attendant!
After some discussion, the officials registered in the eunuch bureau also began to be assigned official positions.
The officials held various positions, including those in charge of deliberation, those in charge of remonstrance, those in charge of palace carriages and horses, and those in charge of conveying imperial edicts.
The new emperor's face darkened slightly at these positions that did not actually control external affairs, but he could not say anything. At this time, Tian Fen was assigning official positions according to ability, and his people were indeed a little lacking.
Without reaching the Sole Self Realm, one is not even qualified to dabble in the positions of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers; even Tian Fen would not dare to arbitrarily break the rules and place people in positions of power.
Next are officials at the level of Grand Master of the Palace, where Wei Qing works. This level is mainly composed of cultivators at the Divine Ability Realm, with some cultivators at the Body Transformation Realm interspersed among them. Han Yan was able to enter this level, but Han Yan's authority was not high and he lacked external power.
Apart from Han Yan, the rest of the group was completely wiped out, and even Zhang Xuezhou, who was at the Divine Ability Realm, only became a regular attendant.
"Attendant?"
Zhang Xuezhou glanced at his gray robe, then at Tian Fen, who kept inserting his official title into his robes.
He felt that Tian Fen might have made a mistake.
Although he came from the Eunuch Bureau, he was not a eunuch.
He was conscripted by the new emperor to temporarily replace the eunuch who read imperial edicts; he never intended to become a court attendant to read out imperial decrees, nor did he want to do such a job.