Just as Zhao Junchen expected, in the morning session of the next day, the "Zhou Party" was extremely aggressive, showing an attitude of being determined to win, and began to impeach the remaining cabinet candidates in a large scale.
However, although the "Zhou Party" was powerful, it still had some sense of control. It did not attack all the cabinet candidates at the same time, but chose to attack them one by one.
Fortunately for everyone in the "Zhao Party", the primary target of the "Zhou Party" is not Zuo Lanshan of the "Zhao Party", but Zhao Zhenghe, the candidate recommended by the "Shen Party"!
Perhaps, in the eyes of the "Zhou Party", Zhao Zhenghe has always been a person with outstanding prestige and considerable political achievements. The possibility of joining the cabinet is second only to Li He, the great scholar of the "Zhou Party", and Liang Fuchen, the trilateral governor of the "Imperial Party". , the threat is naturally far greater than that of Zuo Lanshan, who is full of flaws, so the "Zhou Party" also regards Zhao Zhenghe as a formidable enemy, and wants to get rid of him quickly, but it somewhat ignores the "Zhao Party" Zuo Lanshan.
Because of this, "Zhao Party" did not react at first to "Zhou Party"'s actions, and had no intention of helping each other. It seemed that they did not realize that "Zhou Party"'s next target would be "Zhao Party". Zuo Lanshan or Huo Zhengyuan of the Party.
Although Shen Changmao is now the chief assistant, his influence is far less than that of Zhou Shangjing. As a result, the "Shen Party" has no ability to protect Zhao Zhenghe when it is isolated and helpless. In the end, Zhao Zhenghe Under the siege of everyone from the "Zhou Party", he was naturally in a state of embarrassment.
On this day, at the beginning of the morning court, more than ten censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate came out to impeach Ma Xicheng, the governor of Henan Prefecture, saying that Ma Xicheng, relying on the support of a certain important minister in the court, had extorted money, oppressed the squires, and demanded bribes in the past few years. , does all kinds of evil, and in order to cover up his evil deeds, Ma Xicheng will bribe an important minister in the court every year. After receiving the bribe, this important minister has repeatedly covered up his crimes for Ma Xicheng, allowing Ma Xicheng, a corrupt and cruel official, to go free to this day, while in Henan Prefecture Public dissatisfaction has boiled over.
Ma Xicheng, who was impeached by the censors, was a distant relative of Shaobao Zhao Zhenghe. After entering the officialdom, he had always been closely connected with Zhao Zhenghe, and was often secretly supported by Zhao Zhenghe. Therefore, when the censors suddenly impeached Ma Xicheng, it was natural that Xiang Zhuang Wujian's intention was to impeach Pei Gong, ostensibly to impeach Ma Xicheng, but in fact it was an allusion to Zhao Zhenghe.
After seeing the performance of the censors of the "Zhou Party", everyone in the "Shen Party" from Shen Changmao down were astonished.
As mentioned above, the impeachment move by the "Zhou Party" was an outright conspiracy. They never tried to conceal their intentions from beginning to end, and the "Shen Party" naturally received the news and secretly prepared to deal with it. Of the policy.
However, the ferocity of the "Zhou Party's" offensive, sufficient preparations, and resolute attitude were still far beyond the imagination of the "Shen Party". Not only did they incite more than a dozen censors to impeach Ma Xicheng, but they also After Shi's impeachment was over, dozens of officials from the "Zhou Party" came out one after another to express their support, which immediately created a huge momentum, leaving no time for the "Shen Party" to cover up.
At the same time, according to the censors, the reason why they want to impeach Ma Xicheng is because a large number of people from Henan Prefecture have come to the capital to complain. These people are now waiting in the capital and are willing to do so at any time. Standing up to testify, the censors saw that the situation was serious and were well prepared. Before today's impeachment, they had conducted detailed investigation and evidence collection and found a large amount of conclusive evidence. Therefore, Ma Xicheng's various charges are also beyond doubt. .
Hearing what the censors said, everyone in the "Shen Party" was even more shocked!
When the people of Henan Prefecture went to Beijing to complain, they did not receive any news in advance. As a result, faced with a large amount of conclusive evidence, the "Shen Party" was caught off guard and fell into a passive position!
In the end, under such a situation, Emperor Deqing could not make any remarks, and immediately issued an imperial edict to remove Ma Xicheng from his official position, and ordered officials from the Ministry of Punishments to escort Ma Xicheng to the capital for a joint trial of the three divisions.
As a result, Ma Xicheng suddenly fell without any resistance or response from the "Shen Party".
Then, naturally, the "Zhou Party" used Ma Xicheng's incident to involve Shaobao Zhao Zhenghe!
With the sudden fall of Ma Xicheng, while everyone in the "Shen Party" was still at a loss, as if it had been rehearsed beforehand, Song Qiwen, the Minister of Civil Affairs, came out to speak.
Song Qiwen's face was full of grief. After he came out of the queue, he knelt in front of Emperor Deqing, bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, I am guilty!"
After seeing Song Qiwen's performance, Emperor Deqing immediately guessed the next plan of the "Zhou Party", and a hint of sarcasm flashed in his eyes.
However, the officialdom was like a theater, and even Emperor Deqing was just one of the actors. Although he was aware of the "Zhou Party"'s plan, Emperor Deqing could not express it because of his position.
Therefore, on the surface, Emperor Deqing looked surprised and asked: "Oh? Why did Song Aiqing suddenly apologize?"
Song Qiwen's voice was full of self-blame, and he replied: "Your Majesty, I am the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, responsible for inspecting the political performance and moral character of officials. I did not notice in time that Ma Xicheng was a corrupt official and cruel to officials, and allowed him to go unpunished until now. Naturally, This is the crime of dereliction of duty!"
Emperor Deqing snorted softly and said: "Of course you have neglected your duty! If Ma Xicheng's crimes come true, then your staff will not be aware of it, and you will not be able to escape the blame!"
Song Qiwen looked like he was willing to be punished, and kowtowed again: "Your Majesty, the officials are not completely unaware of Ma Xicheng's evil deeds. I also heard relevant rumors at the beginning, but when I am about to investigate Ma Xicheng, An important minister in the court suddenly came forward to defend Ma Xicheng, saying that Ma Xicheng's various charges were just malicious rumors. This important minister had always had an excellent reputation, so he believed him and did not conduct a strict investigation. He only asked the governor of Henan and the general secretary. The opinion of the political envoy, and the reply given by the governor and chief envoy of Henan to me was that Ma Xicheng was a good official who had made a difference. After receiving the reply, I still did not dare to be careless, and sent a merit-examination officer from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Wang Zheng, a doctor in charge of civil affairs, went to Henan Mansion to investigate in person. Niu Zheng also claimed that Ma Xicheng was a good and honest official after returning to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and he was praised by the people in Henan Mansion...
In this way, I believed their statement and did not continue to pursue the matter! Looking back now, it was me who believed them gullibly, so I failed to notice Ma Xicheng's various evil deeds! This is my dereliction of duty. I have betrayed your majesty's trust. I am deeply ashamed, and I ask your majesty to punish me!"
Song Qiwen's eloquent statement seemed to be taking the initiative to plead guilty, but in fact he took the opportunity to absolve himself of most of the responsibilities and put most of the blame on the Henan government, Wang Zheng, a doctor in the Ministry of Personnel, and An important official of the imperial court.
The current governor of Henan, Zhang Qiling, and the official doctor Wang Zheng are both "Shen Party" people!
As for the well-reputed important court official mentioned by Song Qiwen, Emperor Deqing immediately guessed the specific identity of this person.
However, Emperor Deqing still pretended not to know, and just said slowly and solemnly: "Oh? You mean, the governor of Henan and others are secretly protecting Ma Xicheng? Wang Zheng, a doctor in the official department, was also bribed. Concealed the truth from the officials? Also, who is the important minister in the court you are talking about? The censors said that a certain important minister in the court has been shielding Ma Xicheng, but is this the person he is referring to? "
Song Qiwen replied: "Whether the governor of Henan and others secretly protected Ma Xicheng, and whether Wang Zheng, the doctor in the official department, concealed the truth, I don't dare to say for sure. It still needs the imperial court to interrogate Ma Xicheng before we can make a conclusion! But I still retain it now." The official documents they handed over to me can prove that what I said is true... As for the important court officials who helped Ma Xicheng intercede, they were Shaobao Zhao Zheng and Mr. Zhao!"
As Song Qiwen finished speaking, the expressions of all the officials in Huangji Hall changed drastically, and their eyes focused on Zhao Zhenghe, the Shaobao.
At this time, Zhao Zhenghe, the young security guard, looked even pale and a little at a loss.
Nowadays, the cabinet vacancy is undecided, and Zhao Zhenghe is one of the candidates. However, at this time, he got involved in Ma Xicheng's affairs, and was splashed with dirty water. Not only did his reputation plummet, but before he was cleared of suspicion, , the hope of joining the cabinet has been greatly reduced.
After all, it is absolutely impossible for the imperial court to allow an official who shelters corrupt officials to serve in the cabinet, at least on the surface.
Although all the senior ministers in the cabinet are protecting their cronies, and there is always a shortage of corrupt officials among their cronies, this kind of thing can only be done, and it can never be said that it must not be allowed. found!
What's even more amazing is that Ma Xicheng is the prefect of Henan Prefecture. Although the distance between Henan Prefecture and the capital is not far, it will take several days to escort Ma Xicheng back to the capital for trial. If the case is to be revealed, it will take at least It takes more than half a month.
In other words, even if Zhao Zhenghe can prove his innocence, it will take at least half a month.
But it is a pity that by that time, the matter of cabinet vacancies may have been settled!
Therefore, when things have developed to this point, Shao Bao Zhao Zhenghe's hope of joining the cabinet is extremely slim!
And these are exactly the conspiracy of the "Zhou Party", that is, the wishful thinking of the "Zhou Party"!
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ps: Well, first update!
I overestimated my coding speed. I am afraid it will be difficult to update 6,000 words today, but there will still be two updates, which will add up to more than 5,000 words!