In response to Huo Zhengyuan's inquiry, Zhao Junchen did not answer immediately, but first looked at Huo Zhengyuan carefully.
Just when Huo Zhengyuan was doubtful, Zhao Junchen said: "Speaking of which, I remember that, Bachelor Huo, you were the second-ranked student in Deqing three years ago. When you were ranked second in high school, you were only twenty-one years old?"
This incident is one of the most proud things in Huo Zhengyuan's life. After hearing Zhao Junchen suddenly mention it, he naturally flashed a hint of pride and said: "That's it. I didn't expect you, Mr. Zhao, to know about this matter.
However, Huo remembers that Mr. Zhao was also twenty-one years old when he participated in the palace examination, and was selected as the number one scholar by His Majesty, but he was much stronger than Huo."
Zhao Junchen shook his head and said: "It was just a coincidence that I became the number one scholar, but I can't compare with you... Speaking of which, I also heard that after being ranked second in high school, Mr. Huo, you stayed in the Hanlin Academy for eight years.
During the year, he also became a lecturer at the Hanlin Academy’s Sutra Banquet and explained the meaning of the Sutra to His Majesty several times?”
This is still Huo Zhengyuan's proudest thing in life, so Huo Zhengyuan still nodded and said with a smile: "It is true. When Huo first explained the meaning of the scriptures to His Majesty, he was less than thirty years old. This has been the case for hundreds of years in our dynasty.
Rare."
However, Zhao Junchen suddenly shook his head and sighed, saying: "In this way, in terms of qualifications, Mr. Huo, you are by no means inferior to Shen Changmao, Huang Yourong and others. In terms of intelligence, you are even better than Shen Changmao, Huang Yourong and others. Now you
Now that you are out of the "Yellow Party", you no longer have to look up to others and act based on Huang Yourong's eyes... In this case, I don't understand why you were so timid when Shen Changmao and Huang Yourong came to Fushou Pavilion.
Not only don’t you dare to speak, but you don’t even dare to look them in the eye?”
After hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Huo Zhengyuan finally understood the reason why Zhao Junchen had a secret conversation with him in the same car - it turned out that Zhao Junchen was not satisfied with his performance when facing Shen Changmao, Huang Yourong and others, and thought he was too weak.
Already.
Therefore, Huo Zhengyuan quickly explained: "Please forgive Mr. Zhao, but Huo took the initiative to abandon Mr. Huang Ge after all, and it was inevitable that he felt a little guilty in his heart. After seeing Mr. Huang Ge come to charge the army tonight, he couldn't help but...
"
However, before Huo Zhengyuan finished his explanation, he was interrupted by Zhao Junchen: "Is it just because you feel a little guilty? I'm afraid that's not necessarily the case? Before this, Mr. Huo, you have always been the wisest and bravest among the 'Yellow Party'
, is Huang Yourong's most relied-upon adviser, but in the past when the 'Yellow Party' clashed with other parties, it was rare to see you, Master Huo, acting in person. You just hid behind the scenes to make suggestions for Huang Yourong, and acted in the most low-key manner... According to
It seems to me that the root cause is that, Master Huo, you just don’t want to offend others because you are afraid of being in the limelight, right?”
After hearing Zhao Junchen's conclusion, Huo Zhengyuan remained silent, but did not refute.
Indeed, although Huo Zhengyuan is resourceful and scheming, he always lacks courage and decision-making, and his personality is a bit soft. He can only achieve things based on others, but it is difficult to be independent.
Otherwise, with Huo Zhengyuan's mentality and qualifications, he may not have a place in the current cabinet.
Seeing that Huo Zhengyuan did not refute, Zhao Junchen shook his head again and said: "Master Huo, if you have no ambitions and just want to hide behind the scenes and make suggestions for others, then your performance cannot be wrong, but when he was on His Majesty's southern tour
On this occasion, I went to Huai'an with you to investigate the case. At that time, I saw that you were ambitious. You were very happy after receiving His Majesty's praise. Obviously, you also wanted to achieve something great. But since you are ambitious, how can you lack determination and courage?
?Is it possible that, Master Huo, you just want to be a pure intellectual and courageous person in this life, but you don’t want to stand alone and become a real important minister of the court?"
After hearing Zhao Junchen's successive questions, Huo Zhengyuan was silent for a long time, and finally explained with a wry smile: "Speaking of which, I blame myself for being with the wrong person at the beginning. Not long after Huo left the Hanlin Academy, he accidentally offended me.
At that time, an important minister in the court had no choice but to seek refuge with Mr. Huang Ge in order to protect himself. However, the relationship between Huo and Mr. Huang was not as close as that of Lin Wei and Zhang Cheng, and Huo was too sharp at the beginning.
He showed too much scheming, which aroused the jealousy of Mr. Huang Ge. Therefore, although Mr. Huang Ge valued Huo's strategies over the years, he often beat and suppressed them. In this way, he gradually smoothed things over.
Huo's water chestnut was taken away from him, and now, Huo has regarded caution as his top priority and no longer dares to show off easily, let alone the high-spiritedness he once had..."
After saying that, Huo Zhengyuan looked sad and shook his head repeatedly.
Zhao Junchen also shook his head slightly and sighed: "Indeed, Mr. Huang Ge is famous for being greedy for power, and his mind is not that broad. If you join his disciple, Great Scholar Huo, you will definitely arouse suspicion. It is true."
It’s a bit humiliating.”
At this point, Zhao Junchen changed the topic again and said: "However, today is different from the past. You, University Scholar Huo, no longer need to look at Huang Yourong's eyes. You should also have some understanding of my style of dealing with people. I and I
Huangge Lao is different. The Holy Family is enough for me, but I don't have the idea of monopolizing the Holy Family. Although I can't say that I am broad-minded, I still have some tolerance for others. I never worry about the people around me.
The ambition is too great. If an official who is close to me gains the favor of the Holy Spirit or is promoted to a position of authority, it is a good thing in my eyes and can help me better. So, Bachelor Huo, you don’t have to be as cautious as before.
.”
As he spoke, Zhao Junchen's expression became more serious, and he continued in a sincere tone: "Of course, I won't force it on you. If Academician Huo is unwilling to change, then you can continue to keep a low profile and be cautious, as long as you hide
As long as you advise me behind the scenes, your mental strategies are also very important to me, and I will never underestimate you because of this... However, if you are not willing to be someone else's advisor, you still have to
If you have the ambition to stand alone, then your behavior will change from now on. Now that I have the authority to rectify business and taxation, there will be many important things to deal with in the future. With your reputation and reputation, University Scholar Huo,
Mind, you can take on your own role and share a lot of burdens for me, and you, Master Huo, can also take the opportunity to make a lot of contributions. From behind the scenes to the front of the stage, you may not be unable to achieve great achievements in the future..."
After listening to Zhao Junchen's suggestion, Huo Zhengyuan remained silent, but his eyes kept flickering.
When Zhao Junchen's carriage arrived at Huo Mansion, it stopped for a moment, let Huo Zhengyuan get off the carriage, and then left again.
But Huo Zhengyuan stood at the door of Huo Mansion, ignoring the conciliation of his concierge, and just watched Zhao Junchen's carriage slowly leave.
After a long time, Huo Zhengyuan suddenly smiled and said to himself: "Although Zhao Junchen is a little younger... I have chosen the right person this time..."
As he spoke, the ambition that had been extinguished for a long time gradually ignited in Huo Zhengyuan's heart.
On the morning of the next day, as expected, a large number of "Shen Party" officials came out to impeach Zhao Junchen, saying that Zhao Junchen had "no respect for his elders", "humiliated important ministers", "arrogant and domineering" and so on.
In addition, some "Shen Party" officials have complained about Zhao Junchen's corruption and bribery and the accounts of the Ministry of Accounts.
However, what is unexpected is that when faced with the criticism of Zhao Junchen by officials from the "Shen Party", members of the "Prince Party" did not participate at all.
On the other hand, just as Zhao Junchen expected, Emperor Deqing personally took action to resolve the sudden attack by the "Shen Dang" before Zhao Junchen could respond.
Faced with the criticism of Zhao Junchen from the "Shen Party", Emperor Deqing had a firm attitude. He believed that the impeachment of the "Shen Party" was "making a mountain out of a molehill", "far-fetched" and "using the topic", and he severely reprimanded him. Those "Shen Party" people who impeached Zhao Junchen showed no mercy at all.
Of course, Emperor Deqing also gave some warnings to Zhao Junchen, but he did not go into details.
At the same time, Zhou Shangjing had a tacit understanding with Emperor Deqing, and he wanted to help Emperor Deqing stabilize the situation in the court during this period, so he also spoke out and agreed with Emperor Deqing's views. After Zhou Shangjing expressed his views, everyone Naturally, officials from the "Zhou Party" also came out one after another to agree.
In this way, Shen Changmao and the "Shen Party" officials' counterattack against Zhao Junchen had just begun, but they were met with failure.
The conflict between the "Shen Party" and the "Zhao Party" ended in vain because of this. Faced with Emperor Deqing's tough attitude and Zhou Shangjing's echo, even Shen Changmao did not dare to resist and could only endure it. .
In fact, Zhao Junchen had already anticipated such a scenario.
Therefore, Zhao Junchen did not pay much attention to Shen Changmao's counterattack from beginning to end.
Compared with Shen Changmao's counterattack, there is another thing that deserves Zhao Junchen's attention.
That is, those Hui and Zhejiang businessmen who are interested in Zhao Junchen's plan to rectify business taxation have already come to Beijing one after another.
After the morning meeting ended, these Huizhou and Zhejiang merchants jointly sent a greeting note to Zhao Junchen, hoping to discuss in detail the specific matters of the joint shipping company with Zhao Junchen.
This also means that Zhao Junchen's plan to rectify commercial taxation will soon be put into practical action.
However, before the plan to rectify commercial taxation officially begins, Zhao Junchen still has one thing to do.
That is - meeting Zhao Shancai again and reconfirming Zhao Shancai's future choices.
If Zhao Shancai is still determined to assist the crown prince Zhu Heyu, then Zhao Junchen will have to give up Zhao Shancai and hand Zhao Shancai over to the seventh prince Zhu Hejian.
…
ps: Well, this is the second update today.
The time and status have been gradually adjusted. Starting today, updates will begin to accelerate. Two updates a day will become the norm, and three updates will be tried as much as possible.
In fact, had it not been for a sudden illness, the bugs would have been updated twice a day since the end of last month.
In addition, we continue to sincerely ask everyone to subscribe to the official version. It would be better if there are rewards and monthly passes.