Over the past few days, Zhao Junchen has been practicing in the officialdom and experienced countless overt and covert fights, but he finally understood a truth.
That is, the more sophisticated and complex a plan is, the more links and steps it involves, and the more prerequisites it needs to succeed, and the easier it is for unexpected deviations to occur during the progress of the plan. .
This is what Zhao Junchen learned when he and the three elders Zhou, Shen and Huang worked together to plot against the crown prince Zhu Heyu.
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At the beginning, Zhao Junchen and the three elders plotted against Prince Zhu Heyu together. The combined forces were not unpowerful, and the strategies they devised were not unreasonable. With Prince Zhu Heyu taking over the preparations for the southern tour, through private The troubles and deceit ruined the prince's original virtuous reputation. Emperor Deqing began to doubt the prince Zhu Heyu's ability to do things, and all the procuratorate forces who supported the prince were eradicated!
If such a plan can really be realized, Prince Zhu Heyu's position as crown prince may already be on the verge of collapse!
However, the final effect was greatly reduced.
Today, although Prince Zhu Heyu's power and reputation have been damaged, his foundation has not been shaken. Moreover, Emperor Deqing also sent Cheng Yuandao, Zhu Heyu's die-hard supporter, to the cabinet as a minister, and also intended to appoint Wang Baoren, the Minister of Civil Affairs in Nanjing. Serve as the new prince's grand master and let the six forces of Nanjing join the prince's camp!
Although Zhao Junchen still has a series of follow-up plans and does not care about the gains and losses at this moment; although the fundamental purpose of Zhou Shangjing's participation in such a plan is to take the opportunity to eradicate the former prince and grand master Xiao Wenruan; but he has to admit that after this After the general calculation, in a certain respect, the power and influence of the prince's party has become stronger!
The reason is that the original plan devised by Zhao Junchen and the three elders was too sophisticated and complicated, and if something unexpected happened in the middle, it would be counterproductive.
As a result, an unexpected situation did occur, that is, the sudden occurrence of the murder case of He Ming! However, it disrupted all the arrangements of Zhao Junchen and others.
Coupled with the unexplained death of Xiao Wenruan and the deaths of two princes and masters in succession, Emperor Deqing suspected that someone was deliberately targeting the prince. He actually changed his original stance and began to fully support the prince Zhu Heyu. And in With the full support of Emperor Deqing, the power of the Prince's Party became even stronger!
It was through this incident that Zhao Junchen learned a lesson and understood the shortcomings of the so-called "conspiracy".
The so-called "ingenious plot" is ultimately just a trick, which can only achieve temporary benefits. Only the combination of oddity and rightness is the key to victory.
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This is how he dealt with Prince Zhu Heyu, who was not yet powerful and acted in a single-minded way. Now that Zhao Junchen wants to make enemies of Zhou Shangjing, Huang Yourong, and Shen Changmao at the same time, and launch a full-scale party struggle to seize power, naturally That's even more so.
In the partisan struggle between temples, everyone controls a lot of resources and small actions in private. No one can hide it from anyone. If you try to win by trickery, it will be counterproductive.
Therefore, this time, Zhao Junchen plans to launch an attack on the three elders openly. The first step of the plan is to use the inspection power of Xichang to collect various criminal evidence of the three elders' officials, starting with minor crimes. Investigate. Start impeachment from low-level officials and launch an attack from the bottom up!
The reason why Wei Huai suddenly asked to see Zhao Junchen tonight was precisely to hand over all the criminal evidence collected by Xichang to Zhao Junchen for review.
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In the study, Zhao Junchen took over the various criminal evidence collected by Wei Huai from Xu Qingyan. Although it was only the initial collection of criminal evidence, it was obvious that few of the officials under the three pavilion elders were clean. They were still thick. It was a thick stack. As he was flipping through it, Zhao Junchen nodded from time to time, with a look of satisfaction flashing across his face.
On the other side, Wei Huai was sitting in a wheelchair. He was waiting quietly not far from Zhao Junchen. Although he still looked gloomy and silent, there was a little hesitation in his originally gloomy eyes.
In fact, when Zhao Junchen announced to the core officials of the "Zhao Party" that he would launch an offensive with the three cabinet elders to seize power in an all-round way, Wei Huai did not agree.
Because Wei Huai believes that Zhao Junchen's current power and influence are not enough to make him an enemy of Zhou, Shen, and Huang. Even if we leave aside the two elders Huang Yourong and Shen Changmao, he is just the chief minister. Assistant Zhou Shangjing, in terms of power, influence and mental means, far surpassed Zhao Junchen.
It can be said that being enemies with three pavilion elders at the same time, even if it is not asking for death, is definitely asking for trouble.
However, Wei Huai at that time, firstly, he believed deeply in Zhao Junchen's mental state, and secondly, he wanted to maintain Zhao Junchen's majesty, so he did not refute him face to face, but just followed Zhao Junchen's instructions.
However, in the past two days, no matter how hard Wei Huai tried and how much he collected information, he still could not guess Zhao Junchen's true intentions, let alone find any chance of winning if Zhao Junchen and the three elders were enemies at the same time. , now seeing that Zhao Junchen’s plan is about to begin, he finally feels a little anxious.
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While Wei Huai was thinking about how to speak, Zhao Junchen had already quickly read through all the evidence collected by Xichang, then put a thick stack of evidence at hand, nodded to Wei Huai and said with a smile. : "The work in the West Factory is really reassuring, but in just two days, it's hard to believe that you were able to collect so much evidence."
After Wei Huai was silent for a moment, he replied: "Your Excellency, you are exaggerating. Because I think that you will use these things sooner or later, so after taking over the West Factory, I have been collecting them carefully. And the three senior officials, Zhou Shangjing, One group still knows how to restrain themselves a little, but the officials under Huang Yourong and Shen Changmao, relying on the support of the court elders, are doing things unscrupulously, and it is not very difficult to collect evidence of their crimes."
After a pause, Wei Huai finally couldn't help it and asked: "Sir, do you really plan to make enemies of those three pavilion elders at the same time?"
Zhao Junchen smiled and asked: "Didn't I make things clear to you the day before yesterday? What? Even you think I shouldn't do this?"
Wei Huai lowered his head slightly and said: "I think with your mind and ability, sir, you have your own reasons and chances of doing this, and you will never act blindly. It's just that the three elders have been operating in the court for many years, and their power and influence are already deep-rooted. They are enemies at the same time, and I feel that our chances of winning are not high."
Although Wei Huai's words sounded nice, the underlying meaning behind them was to remind Zhao Junchen that he should never do this without the necessary reasons and a certain chance of winning.
Zhao Junchen naturally understood what Wei Huai meant.
Speaking of which, among Zhao Junchen's officials, in terms of scheming, Wei Huai should be the most powerful. Now it seems that even Wei Huai has not guessed his true intention. A trace of satisfaction flashed in Zhao Junchen's eyes.
Although Zhao Junchen trusted Wei Huai's loyalty to him, the next plan was of great importance, but he was unwilling to let Wei Huai know his detailed plan.
What's more, in this era, keeping the superiors secretive is also one of the common methods used to control subordinates.
However, Wei Huai's position and role were important after all, so after Zhao Junchen pondered for a moment, he decided to reveal more about his plan to Wei Huai so that Wei Huai could have an idea.
Thinking of this, Zhao Junchen smiled again and said leisurely: "Don't worry, I'm not so blindly arrogant. Now the strength gap between me and the three pavilion elders can still be seen clearly. And although I have to compete with those three elders next, The two pavilion elders are enemies at the same time, but there are predecessors and successors. At least before His Majesty's southern tour, I will only focus on Huang Yourong. As for Shen Changmao and Zhou Shangjing, they will only maintain small-scale conflicts. This is just laying the groundwork for future conflicts to expand. Otherwise, it would be difficult to conflict with them again after the southern tour."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Wei Huai seemed to have guessed something, but he couldn't figure it out clearly. He couldn't help but hesitate and said: "Sir, what do you mean...?"
However, Zhao Junchen did not answer the question and said: "Mr. Wei, your Majesty is about to tour the south, and both Zhou and I will accompany him. The ministers who will stay in Beijing to assist the government will have to choose between Huang Yourong and Shen Changmao. So in your opinion ,Which of these two people has greater hope of staying in Beijing?"
After Wei Huai thought for a moment, he replied: "I heard that His Majesty is more inclined to Huang Yourong staying in Beijing to assist the government. I think I have greater hope that Huang Yourong will stay in the capital to assist the government."
Zhao Junchen nodded and smiled and said: "That's why I have to clash with Huang Yourong before His Majesty's southern tour, and try to weaken Huang Yourong's power as much as possible. Only in this way, while His Majesty is on the southern tour, will our retainer Only His Highness, the Crown Prince of the Jing Supervisory State, can have the upper hand over Huang Yourong and not be suppressed by Huang Yourong. When the time comes, no matter what he wants to do, he can let go and start a big fight."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, and then hearing Zhao Junchen's previous words, Wei Huai's eyes lit up, and he finally grasped the context of Zhao Junchen's plan!
Although Zhao Junchen now openly intends to make enemies with the three court elders, in fact he is mainly targeting Huang Yourong. After Zhao Junchen attacked Huang Yourong's forces, during Emperor Deqing's southern tour, Huang Yourong's Under the influence of power, there will inevitably be a period of weakness, and the prince Zhu Heyu who stayed in Beijing to supervise the country can no longer be suppressed! And in the center of the capital, a situation in which the prince's party and family will dominate in a short period of time will be formed!
And with Prince Zhu Heyu's character, just a little prodding is enough to make him do many thankless "right stupid things" during this period of time, and the government and the opposition will inevitably be divided because of these "right stupid things". Stupid thing", and ushered in a period of turmoil.
Then, only when the situation between the government and the opposition became turbulent, and after Zhao Junchen returned to Beijing after completing his southern tour, was he able to take advantage of the chaotic situation to fish in troubled waters and truly expand his power.
However, at that time, facing the chaotic situation in the DPRK and China, Emperor Deqing would definitely try his best to stabilize the situation and prevent other things that would further disrupt the situation between the government and the opposition from happening, which naturally included partisan fights in the DPRK and China.
The upcoming party struggle between Zhao Junchen and the three cabinet elders will become a foreshadowing at that time. As long as this conflict is slightly expanded, he will naturally participate in the chaotic situation. Even Emperor Deqing is afraid that
It was difficult to prevent it. And because such a conflict occurred before the situation was chaotic, Emperor Deqing would not think much about it and would only regard it as part of the chaotic situation.
The best thing is that at that time, even if Zhao Junchen was in an unfavorable situation in the party struggle, if he wanted to get out of this conflict, he would be able to do so easily with the help of Emperor Deqing's power, under Emperor Deqing's mentality of trying his best to maintain stability.
And the above is Zhao Junchen's real plan.
As for the three cabinet ministers who are enemies at the same time, the all-out party struggle to seize power seems to be huge, but at this time, it is just a cover to hide from others!
Although Zhao Junchen did not explain the core part of this plan to Wei Huai - that is, how to provoke Prince Zhu Heyu to do those "right stupid things", and what "right stupid things" he planned to get Prince Zhu Heyu to do,
But Wei Huai did not ask further questions.
In fact, Zhao Junchen is now able to explain the context of his plan to Wei Huai, which means he regards Wei Huai as a true confidant.
Thinking of this, a rare hint of gratitude and admiration flashed across Wei Huai's expression, and he lowered his head and said, "My lord has far-reaching plans, and I respect you for my humble position."
Zhao Junchen nodded with a smile and said: "I treat you as a true confidant, and even Zuo Lanshan, Zhan Shanchang and the others do not know about these things. You should pay attention to this and do not reveal it to others."
Wei Huai nodded and said in a deep voice: "Please rest assured, sir, I will definitely keep my secrets secret about your plans, and I will never betray your trust in me."
"That's good, I can trust you." While speaking, Zhao Junchen patted the pile of evidence on the desk, then turned to look at the night outside the window, and said leisurely: "Now that everything is ready, we are just waiting for the good show.
It’s on the stage.” (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users please go and read.)