People will see things from different angles depending on the height they stand at.
The "height" mentioned here does not only refer to a person's status, authority, and power, but also includes a person's ambition, goals, and self-positioning.
Nowadays, although Shen Changmao is the chief minister of the cabinet with less than one person and more than ten thousand people, what he thinks about all the time is to increase his strength in order to protect himself. Perhaps he is used to the power of Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing. Shen Changmao He always subconsciously puts himself in the position of the weak, so his eyes only focus on the changes in his own strength, but he blindly ignores the changes in the overall situation of the court.
Zhao Junchen is different. Although he is just the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, his ambitions are much greater than Shen Changmao's, and his goals are longer-term than Shen Changmao's. Although he walks on thin ice and is cautious, he also puts himself in the position of the weak. position, but has never lost the confidence to win in the end, and is willing to work tirelessly for this.
Therefore, while Shen Changmao was only focusing on the changes in his own strength, Zhao Junchen was already focusing on the overall situation, thinking about the changes in the court's structure, and adjusting his plans and goals through the changes in the court's structure.
In this regard, although Shen Changmao is the chief minister of the cabinet, he has not established the consciousness of the chief minister of the cabinet. Although Zhao Junchen is only the minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he already views the issue from the perspective of the chief minister of the cabinet.
After this major court meeting, the overall situation of commercial and tax rectification had been determined, so Zhao Junchen did not think too much about it.
In fact, during today's court meeting, several unnoticed "little things" happened. These things may seem inconspicuous, but they are all thought-provoking, and Zhao Junchen naturally has to think carefully about them.
The first thing, of course, was that Emperor Deqing suddenly praised Liang Fuchen, the governor-general of the three sides.
Anyone with a discerning eye can clearly see the cause and effect of this incident. This was the foreshadowing that Emperor Deqing was preparing to recall Liang Fuchen to the center of the capital and entrust him with important tasks. After Liang Fuchen returned to the capital, it would inevitably have a huge impact on the imperial structure.
Regarding this matter, Zhao Junchen also thought a lot.
First of all, Liang Fuchen was a die-hard confidant of Emperor Deqing and had always been loyal to Emperor Deqing. Among the members of the imperial party, his methods, intelligence, experience, etc. were second to none. When he returned to the capital, Deqing The emperor's control over the center of the imperial court will inevitably be greatly improved.
Secondly, Liang Fuchen's status, reputation, qualifications, and meritorious service are all unparalleled by few. If he returns to the center of the capital, he will definitely be awarded a high position. Maybe after Huang Yourong's official fall, the vacant position of Pavilion Elder will be available. It was his. In this way, the difficulty of Zhao Junchen's plan to bring Zuo Lanshan into the cabinet would be greatly increased. On the other hand, this was probably the beginning of Emperor Deqing's intervention in the cabinet.
The last and most important thing is that before the southern tour, Zhao Junchen and Liang Fuchen had been in private contact, but it was Liang Fuchen who secretly sought Zhao Junchen's help because of the corrupt situation in the trilateral military town. He hoped that Zhao Junchen could pass through the household. He used the Ministry's channels to provide some money and food to Sanbiang Army Town. At that time, Zhao Junchen, out of consideration for the overall situation, also tried his best to help Liang Fuchen. As a result, the two had a romantic relationship. However, considering the situation of Sanbiang Army Town, Zhao Junchen The current situation is corrupt, and if Liang Fuchen, a capable minister, is lost again, the Ming Dynasty's borders will become even more worrying from now on, and huge mistakes may occur at some point.
Therefore, both publicly and privately, Zhao Junchen was a little worried about the possibility of Liang Fuchen returning to Beijing. Naturally, he wanted to stop it secretly, but he could not think of a feasible way for a while.
"I'm afraid, I need to find an opportunity to contact Zhou Shangjing. His concerns should be consistent with mine. If we cooperate with him, we may be able to solve this matter."
Zhao Junchen thought secretly.
In addition to Liang Fuchen's incident, there was another incident that attracted Zhao Junchen's attention.
That is what happened to Wang Baoren, the Minister of Civil Affairs in Nanjing.
Even before the southern tour, Emperor Deqing had already leaked rumors that he would transfer Wang Baoren back to the capital to take over the position of the crown prince's grand master and assist the crown prince Zhu Heyu.
However, after Emperor Deqing's southern tour ended, he did not take Wang Baoren back to Beijing. Instead, he continued to keep Wang Baoren in Nanzhili on the pretext that Wang Baoren still had some private matters to resolve.
At that time, it was understandable that Emperor Deqing would make such a decision. After all, Wang Baoren secretly informed Emperor Deqing about the Suzhou Japanese pirate rebellion. It can be said that Wang Baoren single-handedly promoted the fight between Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing.
When Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing were fighting openly and secretly, Wang Baoren tried his best to criticize Zhou Shangjing. In this way, when Emperor Deqing and Zhou Shangjing temporarily reconciled, Emperor Deqing expressed his sincerity in order to appease Zhou Shangjing and left Wang Baoren in Nanzhili.
It can be understood for a while.
However, after two consecutive major court meetings ended, Emperor Deqing still said nothing about Wang Baoren, leaving Wang Baoren embarrassed to stay in Nanzhili and waiting for news. This situation is worthy of scrutiny.
At first, Emperor Deqing planned to recall Wang Baoren to the capital, hoping that Wang Baoren would assist the crown prince Zhu Heyu, but now Emperor Deqing has deliberately ignored the matter and has no intention of recalling Wang Baoren to the capital. Does this mean that
Emperor Deqing finally made up his mind, and without any further hesitation, decided to completely give up on Prince Zhu Heyu.
This situation is also thought-provoking.
In addition to the incident between Liang Fuchen and Wang Baoren, there is another incident that affects Zhao Junchen's mind.
Compared with the first two incidents, this incident is more closely related to Zhao Junchen.
That is, during today's imperial meeting, several censors suddenly impeached Su Changzhen, the governor of Southern Zhili, for corruption and bribery, which harmed the people.
However, due to some considerations, Emperor Deqing suppressed the matter and did not let the officials continue to discuss it. The officials' attention was focused on other more important matters and did not
Give too much attention.
After all, it is common for censors to impeach certain officials when they have nothing to do. It happens almost every day. It's just that the protagonists being impeached are different, so it doesn't deserve special attention.
However, Zhao Junchen felt something strange about the impeachment of Su Changzhen by these censors.
Because, according to these censors, the reason why they wanted to impeach Su Changzhen was because they received an anonymous report letter almost at the same time, which listed in detail many of Su Changzhen's crimes.
I have to believe it, that's why they impeached Su Changzhen at today's court meeting.
Based on this information, Zhao Junchen vaguely smelled a conspiracy.
Moreover, Zhao Junchen roughly guessed that the person behind this conspiracy was Chen Zhirong, the daughter of Chen You, the Duke of Jing.
ps: Halfway through coding, the author's backend crashed, causing the loss of more than a thousand words in this chapter. Chongzi was helpless and could only upload half a chapter first. Please forgive me.