Chapter Five Hundred and Ninety-Seven The Fisherman Profits (Part 2)
For some reason, Xia Yan had an inexplicable feeling that his intelligence was being insulted, and it was caused by the joint insult between Yan Song and Qin Dewei.
Yan Song ran over and said, Mr. Xia, you should be careful about Qin Dewei; Qin Dewei ran over and said, Mr. Xia, you should be careful about Yan Song.
Do both of them subconsciously feel that Xia Yan is a weakling? He seems to be easy to deceive and easy to take advantage of?
Xia Yan thought about it and asked calmly: "How do you judge what Yan Jiexi is thinking? How do you dare to conclude that Yan Jiexi has plans for the next person to be the Minister of Rites?"
Qin Dewei asked in surprise: "Why don't you think about it? No one knows better than me how to be a bachelor!"
Xia Yan, the first assistant to the bachelor's degree, gritted his teeth and said, "I'll give you another chance to speak again."
Qin Dewei then spoke eloquently: "The name of the great scholar is Zaifu. In fact, there is no clear authority in any laws and regulations.
So where does the real power of the Grand Scholar come from? A large proportion comes from the control of the external dynasties, especially the Six Ministries.
Yan Song already has the guts to disobey your order and win a bachelor's degree. Doesn't he still have the guts to further fight for control of the six departments?"
When Xia Yan heard this, he couldn't help but snorted and said: "How can he win it if he wants to fight for it? I am still the chief assistant!"
Qin Dewei rarely said seriously: "Mrs. Ge is looking down on others. Yan Song may indeed gain benefits this time.
Nowadays, Yan Song is standing on the trend of the times. He has been criticized by people all over the world for the new etiquette system, which also makes the foundation of his new bachelor's degree very unstable.
Therefore, the emperor must have a compensatory mentality towards Yan Song. As long as Yan Song asked for something, the emperor could easily agree to Yan Song's request in order to stabilize Yan Song's status!
And Yan Song will definitely not miss this opportunity and recommend one of his own to be the Minister of Rites! As for the significance of the Minister of Rites, there is no need to go into details below, right?"
Xia Yan fell into deep thought again. What Qin Dewei said seemed to make sense.
Qin Dewei took the opportunity to apply eye drops: "So you must not underestimate Yan Song, the elder must pay attention to him!"
After a while, Xia Yan suddenly said: "I don't have a suitable candidate to be the Minister of Rites."
Qin Dewei immediately advised again: "Actually, the key is not whether you want this Minister of Rites, Mr. Ge, but that you can't let Yan Song succeed!
Otherwise, if I say something unpleasant to you, if Mr. Ge doesn’t show off his skills, in the eyes of others, Yan Song will get slapped on his face!”
Xia Yan really wanted to say that for a long time, you, Qin Dewei, were the one who kicked the nose and made trouble!
At this time, Xia Yan suddenly realized that compared to Yan Song and Qin Dewei, he, Xia Yan, was now the one who had the most information.
He already knew Qin Dewei's thoughts and Yan Song's thinking, but neither of them necessarily knew what he was thinking.
In many competitions, winning or losing is often not due to IQ or personality, but to who has more information!
Because the more information a person has, the more likely he is to make the right decision!
Xia Yan now has two options. The first is to directly expose Qin Dewei's intention to support Zhang Chao and Bachelor Zhang.
Then, through explicit means of coercion or exchange of benefits, Qin Dewei made Qin Dewei give up his support for Zhang Xueshi and instead support himself.
The second option is to continue to act confused and pretend not to know Qin Dewei's true intentions.
Xia Yan smiled as if he had everything under control and said, "Actually, I didn't tell you clearly just now, but your guesses about Yan Song may be wrong.
Because Yan Song has promised today to support me in the matter of selecting the Minister of Rites."
Qin Dewei was stunned and asked: "Do you still believe him? On the issue of etiquette, he promised you, but he didn't go back on his word in the end."
Xia Yan then asked: "If Yan Song really has other unforeseen intentions, will you support me?"
Qin Dewei replied without hesitation: "Of course I support Mr. Ge! And I have always done so!"
Xia Yan suddenly picked up a booklet from the desk and said, "I have recently been thinking about how to reward the officials of the Southern Expedition.
For example, Mao Bowen has made great achievements here and should be promoted to the second rank. Unfortunately, there are currently no official positions in the court to place meritorious officials.
So regarding this issue, I wrote a memorial, and wanted to recommend Mao Bowen to replace Yan Song, who was part-time in the Ministry of Rites, and become the next Minister of Rites.
I don’t expect the resistance to be small, Qin Banqiao, if you support me, you might as well sign it as a joint signature.”
Qin Dewei: "..."
Mr. Chief Assistant, you don’t respect martial ethics! When people in the officialdom say they support, aren’t they just verbal? Mr. Chief Assistant, why do you still want to force yourself to be serious?
He could only refuse hastily and said: "How virtuous and capable am I? Dare to be signed by the same name as Mr. Ge?
Besides, I am only a fifth-grade person after all, and I am not morally qualified or worthy of my position. How can I be qualified to make such comments casually!"
Xia Yan said in a subtle way: "Qin Banqiao, you are being too modest. After all, you are the one who planned the southern expedition strategy!
Now that the Southern Expedition has come to a successful conclusion with your planning, you are naturally qualified to continue to comment on the matter of reward."
Qin Dewei secretly regretted that he had said too much just now and patted his chest to express his support for the chief minister. He did not expect that Xia Yan would actually put it on paper on the spot!
And he also underestimated Xia Yan, the first assistant. The past success made Qin Dewei a little careless today!
Qin Dewei deliberately changed the subject and said: "Since Yan Song has said that he supports Mr. Ge, has he signed it? As a part-time minister of the Ministry of Rites, he is more qualified to express his position."
Xia Yan replied without emotion: "I will take it to the cabinet tomorrow, ask Yan Song to sign it, then seal it in a secret book, and report it directly to His Majesty."
Qin Dewei was a little surprised. If it was a secret, it would be no joke! Everyone in the officialdom knew that a secret was better than a memorial!
You can write a lot of things in the secret that cannot be made public, which is equivalent to whispering private words to the emperor, but not everyone is qualified to be in the secret.
Emperor Jiajing had a special hobby. He liked to give silver medals to ministers. Different silver medals had different words on them.
Only those who have the imperial silver medal are qualified to write secret notes to the emperor. Anyway, Qin Dewei does not have it at the moment.
Moreover, the secret can be anonymous. Only the emperor can tell who wrote the secret based on the words imprinted on the silver seal.
But this time Xia Yan obviously did not want to be anonymous. He signed his signature in a way that only the emperor could see. This is another symbolic meaning.
"Qin Banqiao, do you want to sign?" Xia Yan asked again.
In the power structure, who doesn't want to be a fisherman? Yan Song thought, Qin Dewei thought, doesn't he, Xia Yan, the chief assistant, not want to be a fisherman?
Yan Song said that he supports the chief assistant, and Qin Dewei also said that he supports the chief assistant. This is what you two came to the door on your own initiative.
So let’s see, which of you two really supports you?
If they all sincerely support it, that would be the best.
If one is sincerely supportive and the other is not so sincere, that's okay.
If you don’t sincerely support it... then don’t be blamed for flipping the table!