Regarding Zhu Hejian's trip to Nanjing to worship his ancestors, Zhao Junchen believed that this matter was not simple.
Especially considering that Zhou Shangjing has been using public opinion to force Zhu Hejian to do things recently, and the hidden mines designed by Zhao Junchen have been buried in Nanjing Sixth Department for more than half a year, and will soon be detonated one after another...
Therefore, Zhao Junchen also had some vague speculations about the real reason why Zhu Hejian went to Nanjing.
Zhao Junchen believed that this might be a good opportunity for him to fish in troubled waters.
However, Zhao Junchen was on the outside this time and did not know the specific plans of Emperor Deqing, Zhou Shangjing, and Zhu Hejian. Therefore, although he had some guesses in his mind, he did not dare to act rashly, fearing that he would steal the chicken but lose the rice.
.
For this reason, after the morning court, Zhao Junchen did not go to Wenhua Pavilion to handle official business. Instead, he returned to the mansion early and immediately wrote a long letter to Huang Yourong, reminding Huang Yourong to pay close attention to the trends in Nanjing's officialdom.
Huang Yourong's recent cooperation with Zhao Junchen has become more and more sincere. Moreover, as the governor of Southern Zhili, his yamen is located in Suzhou, which is less than 500 miles away from Nanjing. If something happens to Nanjing in the future,
Huang Yourong is undoubtedly Zhao Junchen's most effective ally.
After writing the long letter, Zhao Junchen handed it over to Xu Qingyan and said with a serious expression: "Arrange a fast horse messenger to go to Suzhou and deliver this letter to Mr. Huang Ge as soon as possible."
Seeing Zhao Junchen's serious expression, Xu Qingyan did not dare to neglect and quickly went to make arrangements.
*
After Xu Qingyan left quickly, Zhao Junchen leaned on the back of his chair, frowning and continued thinking: "Calculating the time, Huo Zhengyuan should still be stranded in Suzhou, and he can also make suggestions and provide assistance to Huang Yourong. These two
The joint cooperation of people can be said to be the strongest lineup I can come up with currently...
However, Wang Baoren was feared by Zhou Shangjing and was deliberately excluded to the Sixth Department of Nanjing. However, Huang Yourong had never been treated like this, which is enough to show that Wang Baoren's means and ability are much stronger than Huang Yourong... Therefore, the cooperation between Huang Yourong and Huo Zhengyuan may not necessarily be a success.
Can be stronger than Wang Baoren... not to mention there is a seventh prince Zhu Hejian...
Therefore, although Nanjing's officialdom will be a good opportunity to fish in troubled waters, the chances of success are not high! The best way is to secretly cooperate with Zhou Shangjing and participate in Zhou Shangjing's plan, so that you can naturally use your strength to fight.
Strength, the certainty of success is greatly increased...
However, the timing is not good at the moment. I have just overthrown Lu Yuanan, the Shandong governor of the "Zhou Party". Currently, the officials of the "Zhou Party" are very hostile to me... So Zhou Shangjing is also deliberately alienating me. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I'm afraid
They won't cooperate with me... Alas, the timing is too unlucky, and it's my fault that I was eager to bring down Lu Yuanan and failed to think carefully!"
Regarding Zhu Hejian's trip to Nanjing to worship his ancestors, Zhao Junchen thought carefully about it for a long time, but he still couldn't figure it out and couldn't find a way to break through. So Zhao Junchen simply shook his head, gave up thinking about the matter, and turned to thinking about something else.
one thing.
That is to say, the two appointments made by Emperor Deqing this morning - Fang Shiwen, the former minister of Dali Temple, was promoted to governor of Shandong, and the great scholar Yang Xun was once again appointed minister of Dali Temple.
Zhao Junchen was dissatisfied with both appointments.
After the contact and debate the day before yesterday, Zhao Junchen had a very good impression of Yang Xun and believed that Yang Xun was a true gentleman. However, this situation did not mean that Zhao Junchen would be willing to support Yang Xun in taking charge of Dali Temple.
After all, just because Yang Xun is a true gentleman and always deals with business affairs, he will never show any mercy when he becomes an enemy of Zhao Junchen in the future!
At some point in the future, Yang Xun will inevitably be used by Emperor Deqing to fight for Emperor Deqing.
Once he thought about the scenario where Yang Xun might personally interrogate him in the future, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but feel his scalp numb.
However, Yang Xun's prestige, qualifications, and professional abilities were impeccable, so Zhao Junchen had nothing to do with Emperor Deqing's appointment. If he directly opposed it, it would appear that he had a guilty conscience.
At present, Zhao Junchen's thoughts are mainly focused on the position of governor of Shandong.
Zhao Junchen has been eyeing this position for a long time. He managed to overthrow Lu Yuanan during this period, not only because of Lu Yuanan's obedience, but also because Zhao Junchen wanted to replace the governor of Shandong with one of his own.
For example, Li Lide, the Right Chief Minister of Shandong, is a veteran member of the "Zhao Party". He has always been obedient and is the best candidate.
Zhao Junchen also had a comprehensive plan in mind for Shandong.
*
Shandong is located between Beizhili and Jiangsu. It has a long coastline and many good ports. It also controls water transportation and has convenient sea and land transportation. Its location is extremely critical. If ocean trade is developed along the coast of Shandong, it can easily plunder Jianzhou Jurchen, North Korea, and Japan.
accumulation of wealth in other places;
Moreover, Shandong has a relatively small population, but its cultivated land area ranks among the top three in the Ming Dynasty. And because there are too many saline-alkali lands, the per capita cultivated grain production is low, which is also suitable for Zhao Junchen to promote his agricultural reform plan.
, you can also build large farms;
At the same time, the Shandong salt field was one of the four major salt fields in later generations, and its output was still higher than that of Huai salt. However, the salt production industry in Shandong in this era was far less developed than Huai salt. It was mainly based on small workshops, which can be said to be
Huge potential for development;
What's more, Shandong people are generally tall and have great personalities. They are also deeply influenced by the culture of Confucius and Mencius. They have strong obedience and can provide a large number of talents whether in literature or martial arts.
In short, in Zhao Junchen's eyes, Shandong in this era was definitely one of the regions with the greatest development potential in the Ming Dynasty, perhaps second only to Sichuan and Liaodong.
However, Sichuan is too far away and the transportation is inconvenient, so Zhao Junchen cannot interfere too much personally, while the Liaodong area is mostly in the hands of the Jianzhou Jurchens, and there is still a war crisis... In comparison, the Shandong area is very close to the capital center
, easy to contact, conducive to Zhao Junchen's intervention, and it is also located in the hinterland of the country, so there is no need to worry about war intrusion, so it is naturally a priority.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen has always wanted to develop Shandong with all his strength, implement his various ideas, and make Shandong an important pillar of the Ming Dynasty.
The most important thing is that although Zhao Junchen has always recognized the principle of "no businessman can be rich", he was extremely dissatisfied with the two main merchant groups during the Ming Dynasty - Shanxi merchants and Hui merchants.
These two merchant groups, one is colluding with the Jurchens in Jianzhou, the other is colluding with overseas Japanese pirates, have long been a habit. However, Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants are both deeply rooted and powerful, and Zhao Junchen cannot do without them in a short time.
, they can only be beaten and guided, but it is difficult to fundamentally transform them.
In this era, Shandong was extremely suitable for business development, whether it was its geographical location, long coastline, salt fields with huge development potential, or vast plains where large farms could be built.
Once it is successfully developed, a large number of salt merchants, grain merchants, and traders will inevitably emerge in Shandong, becoming a decisive force.
In fact, the Lu merchants of this era were somewhat famous, but compared to the natural conditions they possessed, these achievements seemed too wasteful.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen wanted to start over and personally support and strengthen the "Lu merchant force" so that Lu merchants could develop into a merchant force that could stand shoulder to shoulder with Shanxi merchants and Hui merchants, and also put his own mark on it, making it a merchant force.
Be your own true helper.
As the power of Lu merchants gradually grows, whether they will completely replace Hui merchants and Shanxi merchants, or whether they will check and balance with Hui merchants and Shanxi merchants, depends on the situation.
It was precisely because of these considerations that Zhao Junchen wanted to control the position of governor of Shandong in his own hands, both publicly and privately.
It was a pity that Emperor Deqing gave this position to Fang Shiwen, the former Minister of Dali Temple, and issued the decree directly, leaving Zhao Junchen no chance to refute or intervene.
"But no matter what, I must seize the position of governor of Shandong! Although His Majesty has already appointed Fang Shiwen, if Fang Shiwen has an accident and is unable to take office, then we will have to reconsider the candidate! At that time,
I once again had an opportunity to take advantage of it!
Therefore, the top priority now is to prevent Fang Shiwen from an accident and prevent him from going to Shandong to take up his post... There are many related methods, whether it is to criticize Fang Shiwen's personal ethics, or to impeach Fang Shiwen for his official dereliction of duty, no matter how bad it is, he can still create an accident.
The purpose can all be achieved...but it must be as hidden as possible, and it must not arouse the suspicion of Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing..."
In this way, after Zhao Junchen thought for a long time, he finally thought of a good way!
Yang Xun has now taken over the position of Minister of Dali Temple, and will soon hand over official duties to Fang Shiwen. This situation is Zhao Junchen's opportunity!
"Yang Xun is a selfless gentleman. If he discovered that Fang Shiwen had made mistakes in handling cases when he was the minister of Dali Temple during the handover of official duties with Fang Shiwen, he would definitely stand up and report to Deqing immediately because of his disdainful character.
The emperor impeached Fang Shiwen. By that time, Fang Shiwen would naturally have no chance to go to Shandong to take up his post!
Hey, from this aspect, it is also beneficial for Yang Xun to be the Minister of Dali Temple! Since Emperor Deqing can take advantage of Yang Xun's impartiality, why can't I take advantage of this?... Yang Xun is a gentleman, and a gentleman is always a gentleman.
If you want to be used by others, it is better for me to use it than for others to use it. I think he won't blame me!"
Thinking of this, Zhao Junchen quickly launched an action and sent people to pass the news to several of his intelligence agencies and cronies in North Korea and China, asking everyone to collect as soon as possible all the controversial cases that Fang Shiwen tried during his tenure as Minister of Dali Temple in recent years.
*
After Zhao Junchen's painstaking management, Zhao Junchen's several intelligence agencies are extremely efficient, and Zhao Junchen's cronies never dare to neglect Zhao Junchen's orders.
Therefore, in the evening of that day alone, Zhao Junchen had already collected through different channels many controversial cases tried by Dali Temple in recent years.
And just when Zhao Junchen was sitting in the study carefully sorting out these materials, he suddenly received a report that Yang Xun was visiting the Zhao Mansion again.
After hearing the report, Zhao Junchen just felt that the timing was good, and after muttering softly "Say Cao Cao, Cao Cao is here", he went out of the house to greet him in person.
Of course, when Zhao Junchen met Yang Xun, he did not forget to bring the information he had collected.
But he said that when Zhao Junchen welcomed Yang Xun into the room, he first congratulated Yang Xun on his re-appointment as the minister of Dali Temple. Yang Xun was actually unwilling to return to the temple, so he accepted Zhao Junchen's congratulations against his will.
Next, Zhao Junchen directly asked Yang Xun the reason for his visit.
Yang Xun introduced a disciple behind him to Zhao Junchen, saying: "This man's name is Jiang Zheng, he is my direct disciple. He has been with me for eight years. He has always been smart and smart.
It can be regarded as inheriting my true heritage.
Ever since he met Zhao Gechen with the old man the day before yesterday, he has admired Zhao Gechen and wanted to join Zhao Gechen's disciples. As Zhao Gechen's staff, he would assist Zhao Gechen in doing things and have the opportunity to use his skills... But he didn't know if Zhao Gechen was willing.
Accept him?"
Hearing what Yang Xun said, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but be stunned. He didn't expect that Yang Xun actually planned to recommend his disciples to Zhao Junchen as his staff. Zhao Junchen couldn't help but doubt Yang Xun's intentions for a while, thinking that Yang Xun might
It's because he wants to have an eyeliner around him.
Zhao Junchen is a villain, so he naturally wants to judge a gentleman with a villain's heart.
On the other side, after seeing Zhao Junchen's surprise and hesitation, Yang Xun also understood Zhao Junchen's scruples, so he said again: "Of course, Jiang Zheng wants to join Zhao Gechen's disciples, it is just his own idea, I am only responsible for the introduction, and
Zhao Gechen, whether you want to accept him or not, and whether you want to reuse him after you accept him, everything depends on Zhao Gechen's own thoughts. I will never force him...
Haha, Jiang Zheng himself is full of confidence and believes that his talents will definitely be reused by Zhao Gechen! So, if Zhao Gechen is hesitant, why not give him a test here?"
Zhao Junchen took a serious look at Jiang Zheng. Seeing that Jiang Zheng was tall and tall, full of energy, and full of vigor, he felt a little fond of him, so he asked: "The so-called staff is to make suggestions and solve problems for the leader. If you want to
If you want to be my staff, the main task is the same!
And now, I happen to have a difficult matter in my mind, and I want to hear your opinion!
You must have heard the news. Just yesterday morning, Lu Yuan'an, the governor of Shandong of the 'Zhou Party', was dismissed by His Majesty because of my repeated impeachments. As a result, I aroused the hostility of everyone in the 'Zhou Party'... Although I am not
I am not afraid of the revenge of the 'Zhou Party', but after all, there are many government affairs that require close cooperation with the 'Zhou Party', and we cannot always exclude each other! So, do you have any ideas that can help me resolve the 'Zhou Party' in a short time?
'The hostility can even make the 'Zhou Party' actively propose cooperation with me?"
Zhao Junchen proposed this test question with the original intention of making things difficult for Jiang Zheng.
After all, even Zhao Junchen himself has been unable to come up with a solution to this problem.
However, what Zhao Junchen never expected was that Jiang Zheng came up with a solution very quickly.
Moreover, this solution is not only completely feasible, but also completely ingenious!
…
Normal updates will resume tomorrow, at least one major chapter will be updated every day, and occasionally two updates.