The next day, before the morning court, as always, after half the Yin hour, Zhao Junchen arrived in a sedan chair outside the Meridian Gate. There, the prince's party and the chief minister Zhou Shangjing had been waiting for a long time. As for the other senior ministers, they were still waiting.
Waiting for the bell to ring before appearing.
However, what is different from the past is that when Zhao Junchen got off the sedan, his power and popularity were much greater than in the previous days.
In fact, since returning to Beijing, Zhao Junchen has changed from his previous withdrawn and domineering attitude. He has smiled and made friends with officials from the DPRK and the Central Government. His intention to make friends can be seen by anyone. And through the Qiuwei of Three Provinces
Regarding the fraud case, Zhao Junchen also demonstrated his ability to protect his cronies and his strong influence in front of Emperor Deqing.
Faced with such a Zhao Junchen, many court officials who were interested in finding a backer or who were not taken seriously by the factions were naturally moved.
However, at that time, the outcome of the bet between Zhao Junchen and Prince Zhu Heyu was uncertain. If Zhao Junchen finally lost the bet and was guilty of bullying the emperor, his future would be ruined, let alone protecting his friends.
One faction.
Therefore, although many court officials wanted to move closer to Zhao Junchen, due to the bet, most of them did not take action and were just waiting and considering.
But with the end of the soap supply auction at the Ministry of Household Affairs, everyone knew that Zhao Junchen must have won the bet!
If you don't express your attitude at this time, then when will you wait?
In fact, just as the household auction ended yesterday, many court officials had already sent invitations to Zhao Junchen's mansion or visited him in person. For a while, the front door of Zhao Junchen's mansion was bustling with traffic and noisy.
Today's morning court, with the appearance of Zhao Junchen, became even more lively. Many courtiers had been waiting for a long time. After Zhao Junchen got off the sedan, they all came closer to Zhao Junchen. There were so many people, shoulder to shoulder, that after a rough calculation, there were more than 100 people.
Twenty or thirty people greeted Zhao Junchen one after another, said hello, showed goodwill, and so on.
Looking at the officials in front of him, although the official positions are not very powerful, if he can choose a few to be his disciples, it is always a good start for Zhao Junchen, and it can also increase Zhao Junchen's prestige and status in the hearts of the officials in the court.
, so Zhao Junchen also returned the courtesy one by one, acting quite politely.
"Sir Zhao, my superior sent someone to deliver a famous post to your mansion yesterday. I wonder if Mr. Zhao has seen it?"
"Sir Zhao, I intend to have a banquet at Linyuan Pavilion today. I wonder if Mr. Zhao would like to have a dinner with me?"
"Mr. Zhao is well, I am here to wish you the best of luck in your promotion to the position of minister!"
In the midst of the commotion, Zhao Junchen pressed his hands, and all the officials became quiet and looked at Zhao Junchen expectantly.
I saw Zhao Junchen smiling and saying: "If I am really lucky enough to be promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue today, I will hold a banquet to reward you for your strong support to me these days. Well, it will be at You hour this afternoon at the Tianhai Tower in the west of the city. Everyone, what do you think?
How about the next one? I won’t post any more. Today, during the Youshi period, any colleague who can honor me and attend the banquet is my friend, Zhao Junchen.”
After hearing what Zhao Junchen said, many officials agreed one after another.
Suddenly, I heard someone humming: "Shilang Zhao is very confident. Does Zhao Shilang really think that he has won the bet?"
Zhao Junchen turned around and saw Bao Wenjie, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, standing not far away at some point, looking coldly at Zhao Junchen and others.
Seeing that it was Bao Wenjie who was speaking, the courtiers gathered around Zhao Junchen subconsciously kept silent.
Bao Wenjie was a third-rank official, held real power, and was a close confidant of the prince. Although these people wanted to seek refuge with Zhao Junchen, the matter was still undecided and it was not worth it to offend Bao Wenjie for nothing.
Zhao Junchen smiled slightly and cupped his hands towards Bao Wenjie. Just as he was about to say something, he heard someone rushing to say: "Oh? Now His Majesty has decreed that the silver earned from the operation of pancakes in the inner treasury will be distributed to the Ministry of Household Affairs for twenty taels every year.
Wanliang, now that the matter is over, Mr. Zhao has won the bet, so what? Could it be that His Highness the Crown Prince intends to break the contract and regret it?"
While they were talking, Zhan Shanchang and Tong Huan appeared side by side. The person who had just spoken was Zhan Shanchang who had already disliked Bao Wenjie.
If it weren't for Bao Wenjie's report on the Qiuwei fraud case in the three provinces, Zhan Shanchang wouldn't have been in such a mess a few days ago. What's more, the two had already formed many conflicts over the years in their struggle for power in the Ministry of Rites.
When Bao Wenjie saw that it was Zhan Shanchang who was speaking, a flash of disdain flashed through his eyes, and he said with a snort: "How long can a villain be so rampant if he succeeds?"
While talking, Bao Wenjie raised his hand to Zhao Junchen again and said, "Master Zhao, you may not win this bet. We'll see you in court."
While speaking, without waiting for Zhan Shanchang to refute, Bao Wenjie turned around and walked towards where the prince's party gathered, leaving Zhan Shanchang with an angry face.
But Zhao Junchen didn't say much, he just followed Bao Wenjie's direction and looked towards the prince's party.
Obviously, the prince's party now also knows about Zhao Junchen's use of pancakes to make money. They all have serious faces, but there is not much look of despair, and they obviously have their own ways to deal with it.
Zhao Junchen was not worried about this. He deliberately exposed some flaws in this matter. Obviously the prince's party had noticed it, but Zhao Junchen didn't care. He left these flaws for Emperor Deqing to see.
The prince's party thought they had a plan, but in fact they were only used by Zhao Junchen.
As he glanced around, Zhao Junchen saw the chief assistant Zhou Shangjing again. As always, Zhou Shangjing was surrounded by a group of disciples and was looking at Zhao Junchen with scrutinizing eyes.
After the two people made eye contact, both Zhao Junchen and Zhou Shangjing nodded politely to each other.
Zhao Junchen had no doubt that Zhou Shangjing must have known about Emperor Deqing's arrangements yesterday, but Emperor Deqing's actions did not affect Zhou Shangjing in the slightest. His expression was as indifferent as ever, making Zhao Junchen unable to see through the depth.
On the other side, because of Bao Wenjie's appearance, the court officials gathered around Zhao Junchen were all a little embarrassed. When they saw Zhan Shanchang and Tong Huan walking towards Zhao Junchen, they all said goodbye knowingly.
After Zhan Shanchang and Tong Huan were the only ones left, Zhao Junchen led them towards the Meridian Gate. As he walked, he ordered: "There will be a banquet tonight. You two will also come. Those who want to join my sect."
Imperial officials, you two are responsible for screening."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Zhan Shanchang and Tong Huan both nodded to express their understanding.
Although Zhao Junchen wanted to recruit cronies, he did not want to recruit a group of spies sent by other factions. How many of those people just now really wanted to take refuge in Zhao Junchen? Zhao Junchen was really unsure.
In addition, although many officials wanted to join Zhao Junchen, the reason why they could not find a backer or were not reused in the factions before was because of their own problems, such as poor ability, short-sightedness, or
Unable to get along with others normally, Zhao Junchen did not want to accept them all without distinguishing between good and bad.
Just as Zhao Junchen was giving instructions, the bell on the Meridian Gate rang. As the Meridian Gate slowly opened, the three pavilion elders Wen Guanliang, Huang Yourong, and Shen Changmao stepped out of the sedan chair at the clock as usual, and the morning court began.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ps: Tomorrow’s fifth update, I will replace the Chinese Valentine’s Day debts, and then start to break out, I finally have some free time. The days when I woke up early and got dark some time ago are really unbearable to look back on (#^_^#)