The Ming Dynasty had a vast territory, and there were more than 200 officials at the prefecture and prefecture level. Among them, it was inevitable that there would be a few corrupt officials who extorted excessive taxes and exploited the people. Like what happened at court this morning, the central government would encounter it once or twice a year. From this
On the whole, this matter is not that serious.
What's more, Henan Prefecture is far away from the capital. No matter how resentful and pitiful the people of Henan Prefecture are, it is only a corner of the Ming Dynasty and cannot affect the overall situation. In the eyes of the officials in the capital, it is just a few lines of text in an official document, which is commonplace.
Under this circumstance, the officials would not have any special feelings.
However, this matter is ultimately related to the credibility and image of the court. On the surface, officials all care about the people, and the emperor must be willing to make decisions for the people, so they must show their attitude, show their attention, and conduct investigations.
, give the people an explanation, even if it is just pretentious and perfunctory!
Under normal circumstances, similar incidents would not affect Zhao Zhenghe at all, and Zhao Zhenghe could easily resolve the matter. However, now is the critical period for Zhao Zhenghe to fight for cabinet membership, so this incident has a great impact on him.
This is the game of politics. Many things may not seem serious, but once the time is not right, they will often have extremely far-reaching impacts. And only the people in the game can know the extent of this impact.
As for outsiders, they are just watching the fun. It often takes a long time before they realize the change and exclaim that the sky has changed!
Nowadays, Zhao Zhenghe is naturally a dumb man who eats Coptis chinensis and knows his own suffering.
Under the watchful eyes of all the officials, Zhao Zhenghe slowly walked out of the queue, knelt in front of Emperor Deqing, and confessed his past, saying: "Your Majesty, I am guilty! When I was the governor of Sichuan, I had an affair with Ma Xicheng
After a period of contact, I found that Ma Xicheng was rigorous, experienced and fair at that time. I also admired him very much. Over the years, he was promoted and promoted many times, and I thought Ma Xicheng was worthy of the court! After the Ministry of Personnel received Ma Xicheng's impeachment, I thought Ma Xicheng was impeached.
I thought Ma Xicheng was still the good official he was before, so I tried my best to defend Ma Xicheng, but I didn't expect that people's hearts are fickle... Looking back now, it was my fault!"
After hearing Zhao Zhenghe's confession, Emperor Deqing was slightly stunned, but he did not expect that Zhao Zhenghe directly admitted his mistake without any explanation!
In fact, Zhao Zhenghe was willing to admit his mistakes, but he was forced to do so.
The major factions in the DPRK often make deals and concessions in order to protect their respective cronies. After the Ministry of Revenue received the relevant charges against Ma Xicheng, Zhao Zhenghe also made a series of transactions with the "Zhou Party" in order to protect Ma Xicheng.
In the end, Song Qiwen was very talkative and did not investigate Ma Xicheng strictly. He only asked Zhang Qiling, the governor of Henan, for his opinion, and sent Wang Zheng, a doctor in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, to investigate.
At that time, in Zhao Zhenghe's view, Ma Xicheng was a person who "sinked the party", and Henan Governor Zhang Qiling and the official doctor Wang Zheng were also people who "sinked the party". Even though Song Qiwen knew this, he still
By asking a "Shen Party" official to investigate another "Shen Party" official, he obviously agreed to his request and planned to let Ma Xicheng go.
At that time, Zhao Zhenghe was still a little surprised by Song Qiwen's easy talk, but now he realized that the "Zhou Party" had planned this for a long time, and actually kept this handle to prepare to deal with him at the critical moment when he entered the cabinet!
Now, the facts are all there. Song Qiwen still has official documents from Henan Governor Zhang Qiling and the official doctor Wang Zheng. Naturally, he cannot tolerate Zhao Zhenghe's denial!
Therefore, Zhao Zhenghe could only admit the matter straightforwardly, abandon Ma Xicheng, and try his best to protect himself!
"I remember that when I negotiated with Song Qiwen, His Majesty had not yet conducted his southern tour! Could it be that the 'Zhou Party' had already anticipated that Huang Yourong would fall and I would compete for a cabinet seat at that time? If so, , Zhou Shangjing’s sophistication and long-term layout are really unmatched!”
Thinking of this, Zhao Zhenghe felt a little chill in his heart.
After Shen Changmao became the chief minister of the cabinet, Zhao Zhenghe also became more ambitious. He only felt that if the "Shen Party" could continue to develop, it might not be able to surpass the "Zhou Party" and become the strongest faction in the DPRK. !
But now, when the "Zhou Party" began to attack the "Shen Party", Zhao Zhenghe realized that he was too naive. Facing the "Zhou Party"'s aggressive attack, the "Shen Party" from Shen Changmao on down actually resisted. There was no chance. Before they could react, the possibility of Zhao Zhenghe joining the cabinet was completely destroyed by the "Zhou Party"!
At this point, in order to protect himself, Zhao Zhenghe had no other choice but to admit defeat.
This is a gap in strength, but also a gap in means and vision!
An insurmountable gap!
After recognizing the reality, Zhao Zhenghe only felt bitter in his heart, and most of his original ambitions were immediately dissipated.
On the other side, Emperor Deqing glanced at his chief minister, Shen Changmao.
At this time, Shen Changmao looked terribly gloomy, but he had no intention of speaking out.
Obviously, like Zhao Zhenghe, Shen Changmao, who has always had a strong personality, also gave in when faced with the well-prepared and fierce attack of the "Zhou Party". Seeing that the overall situation was decided, he did not intend to fight stubbornly.
Seeing Shen Changmao's performance, Emperor Deqing's eyes flashed with contempt.
Emperor Deqing knew that after this incident, the "Shen Party" was not just as simple as losing the possibility of Zhao Zhenghe joining the cabinet. After Shen Changmao became the chief minister, he finally overpowered Zhou Shangjing. Now, However, he was directly defeated by Zhou Shangjing without even a chance to resist. This was a huge blow to Shen Changmao's reputation.
Perhaps, because of this incident, Shen Changmao's position as chief assistant will gradually become unstable.
Under such circumstances, even if he was stubbornly resisting, Shen Changmao should show his stance, but Shen Changmao, who always prided himself on being strong, just gave up... Obviously, in his heart, Shen Changmao never considered himself Can beat Zhou Shangjing!
"Mud can't hold up a wall! I tried to use you to check Zhou Shangjing, but I misjudged the person!"
Emperor Deqing thought secretly.
Then, Emperor Deqing's eyes turned to Zhao Junchen.
After ousting Zhao Zhenghe, the next target of the "Zhou Party" should be Zuo Lanshan or Huo Zhengyuan, the candidates supported by the "Zhao Party"!
At that time, how will Zhao Junchen react?
…
ps: Well, second update! A total of more than 5,000 words have been updated today.
In the previous chapter, Chongzi felt that his writing was too slow, so he deleted the plot of the imperial censor's impeachment and changed the plot from a detailed description to an overview. Although it reduced nearly two thousand words in one go, it did not The update goal of 6,000 words can be achieved, but Chongzi does not regret it, otherwise it will affect the reading experience.
Readers who want to vote for the update, please vote to 6,000 words tomorrow and let the bugs try again!
It’s not that he is greedy for the income from the update ticket, but that Chongzi wants to find a goal and motivation for himself. Even if he cannot update 6,000 words in the end, the amount of updates of 5,000 words exceeds Chongzi’s usual level.