This round of bickering between Yan Song and Zhang Chao ended without a win. After all, in his mind, the most important thing now is the position of first assistant.
Although he, Yan Song, is now respected as the ruler, as long as he is not the chief minister, his name is still unfair.
In politics, status is still very important. Even Cao Mengde knew that "the emperor can be used to control the princes".
Only when you become the chief minister can you have the "great righteousness" to centralize and integrate power, and gain political advantage over the Qin Party.
After tens of millions of calculations, Mr. Yan Ge felt that this might be the only way to defeat the Qin Party.
The cabinet is the place where seniority is most important. Unless appointed by the emperor, positions are generally ranked according to the order of entry into the cabinet.
As long as Zhai Luan is driven away, Yan Song will naturally become the chief assistant!
No matter how powerful Qin Dewei is, it is impossible for him to be at the front of the cabinet, let alone be the first assistant before Yan Song. This is Yan Song's chance to finally reverse the Qin Party!
At this time, the two great bachelors, Yan Song and Zhang Chao, had already arrived at Wenyuan Pavilion, but Zhai Luan, the first assistant, had not arrived yet. This was normal.
After all, Chief Assistant Zhai relied on his status and was the last one to arrive every day to show his distinguished status.
Anyway, he doesn’t have much real power, and he doesn’t have much to do if he arrives early, so he might as well go later to save face.
Today, the sedan chair of Chief Minister Zhai was walking leisurely along Chang'an Street. When he was approaching the right gate of Chang'an, his entourage suddenly noticed that there was a crowd of people on the wall, and many officials were surrounding it.
As the chief assistant's entourage, of course he has a certain degree of political sensitivity and immediately reported to the chief assistant Zhai: "There seems to be a new announcement ahead."
The post was originally a form of official document, but in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, it also had the meaning of "big-character poster" and often became a political tool.
For it to be secretly posted near the right gate of Chang'an and watched by so many passing officials, it must have a political nature.
Zhai Luan immediately asked his entourage to go to Jie Tie to find out the details. Not long after, he saw the entourage running back quickly.
Moreover, the attendant was holding a large piece of paper in his hand and reported to Zhai Shoufu: "The younger one has taken off the big-character post from the wall. I'd better take a look at it myself."
After Zhai Luan took it in person in surprise, he looked at it carefully and saw that the contents on the paper could be summarized as follows: Zhai Luan, the first assistant, had nothing to do but abdicated in favor of someone worthy of his position!
"You bastard!" Zhai Luan became furious, tore the paper in his hand to pieces, and cursed loudly.
I just heard it in other people’s ears, and they didn’t know who they were criticizing.
Although in the past ten years, Zhai Luan has not been able to defeat anyone from Zhang Fujing to Xia Yan, from Yan Song to Qin Dewei, he still has the most basic political judgment ability.
There must be more than one such political post, and there must be some on the streets elsewhere!
This is obviously someone who wants to cause trouble, so he posted a post first to spread the news!
With anger, Zhai Shoufu also came to Wenyuan Pavilion and walked into the middle hall.
In the past, ministers worked in separate cubicles with poor lighting, and the nave was where saints were worshiped and meetings were held.
But since Qin Dewei set the trend, cabinet ministers are no longer willing to go to the cubicles. They all gather in the central hall, turning the central hall into a collective office for cabinet ministers.
"Yan Song! Mother is too much!" After Zhai Shoufu came in, he shouted directly at Yan Song.
Yan Song raised his head and said in confusion: "Why do you say this?"
Zhai Luan responded: "You know what you do!"
Yan Song secretly laughed. Judging from Zhai Luan's performance in these words, he probably had no other choice but to be incompetent and furious.
This is called both a conspiracy and a conspiracy. The conspiracy lies in the fact that everyone can guess that Yan Song wants to be the chief minister, but the conspiracy lies in the fact that outsiders do not know the specific methods he adopts.
In fact, he had never worried about Zhai Luan. What he worried most about was that the Qin Party would protect Zhai Luan in order to prevent him from becoming the chief minister.
The conspiracy is to force Zhai Luan, and the conspiracy is to guard against the Qin Party, or to dig holes for the Qin Party.
If the Qin Party really tried its best to defend Zhai Luan regardless of past suspicions, then bringing out the evidence of Zhai Luan's imperial examination fraud would be equivalent to a blow to the Qin Party's face and prestige.
The plot that follows follows exactly what most people guessed, and many political struggle operations have basic routines.
Suddenly some people in Kedao began to impeach the chief minister Zhai Luan for his "corpse meal", and then people from the Sixth Department also followed suit.
Add to this the political opportunists, those who really felt that Zhai Luan was not worthy of being the chief minister, those who did not know the truth and followed the trend, those who were cheap-minded, etc., over the next few days, there were more than thirty memorials to impeach Zhai Luan.
This can be regarded as a public opinion momentum that has begun to take shape, enough to attract official attention, and the official must respond.
According to normal rules, when a minister encounters such an impeachment, he should take the initiative to resign, and then thank guests behind closed doors, symbolizing that he is awaiting punishment from the emperor.
But this time, Chief Assistant Zhai also took the risk. Uncharacteristically, he did not make any gesture of resignation. He still occupied the position of Chief Assistant and continued to go to Wenyuan Pavilion every day.
As a result, Zhai Shoufu's "confrontational" attitude aroused dissatisfaction among more science and technology officials, and a new wave of verbal and written criticism emerged. In addition to the charge of "eating vegetarian meals on corpses", there was another one of "not leaving".
Chief Assistant Zhai was completely shameless, still refusing to resign, and openly claimed: "The official position was awarded by His Majesty, and only Your Majesty can take it back!"
So there was another "political crisis" in the Ming Dynasty. It was said to be "not major" because it did not seem to affect the operation of government affairs; it was said to be "not minor" because it involved the nominally highest civil servant.
.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Yan Song asked the Prince of the Supervisory State to deal with the matter. The half-regent, Queen Mother Zhang, issued an edict to the Prince of the Supervisory State and ordered ministers of third rank and above at home and abroad to gather together to discuss the matter.
It should be said that there is nothing wrong with this imperial edict, and no minister can raise objections or even be happy to see it succeed.
The emperor is still in a coma, and there is no one in the court who can speak the constitution of heaven and make arbitrary decisions on this matter.
Therefore, having key ministers meet collectively and make decisions is almost the only way to legally resolve the "political crisis".
On the next day, the ministers gathered in twos and threes in the east room outside the Meridian Gate, waiting for the "conference" to begin.
Somehow, many people felt that something was missing after arriving.
The young man who would stand in the first three rows most of the time whenever a meeting was held, taking over two-thirds of the excitement of the court, was no longer here this time.
An official sighed to his friends: "In the past, some people said that as long as Qin Dewei is in the court, there will never be peace, but it seems that is not the case now.
Now Qin Dewei has been away from the court for three months, but there has been another turmoil in the temple. You can't blame Qin Dewei, right?"
Mr. Yan Ge happened to hear this sentence when he came in, and glared at the official who said this. This person must be a shill who deliberately helped Qin Dewei wash the land!
Seeing today's "protagonist" Yan Song come in (no one thought Zhai Luan was the protagonist), everyone stopped talking and kept quiet.
In fact, many people are a little confused in their hearts. They don't know how to hold today's meeting and how to work hard.
According to the usual practice, everyone is just trying their best. The ultimate goal is to impress the emperor, so just work hard in this direction.
But now we are in an extraordinary period. The emperor no longer cares about things, and the queen mother is not really able to take care of things. So in which direction should we work hard?
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Everyone has different concerns, and Mr. Yan Song also has his own worries, because so far, the Qin Party has been too quiet.
During the previous impeachment of Zhai Chief Minister, the Qin Party seemed to have nothing to do with it. It neither came forward to defend Zhai Luan nor added insult to injury. It did nothing, not even a public statement.
This "phenomenon" without any response made Mr. Yan Ge lose the basis for judging the intentions of the Qin Party, and he couldn't help but feel a little worried.
According to convention, unless there are special circumstances, this kind of meeting is usually presided over by the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the head of the outer dynasty.
Xu Zan and Xu Tianguan looked at the room and felt that the number of people was almost there, so they cleared their throats and prepared to start.
"Wait a minute!" Suddenly someone spoke, and everyone followed the voice, and it turned out to be Chen Chun, the censor in charge.
Anyone who knows anything knows that this person is the same year as Qin Dewei, and he is also one of Qin Dewei's agents in Kedao.
Among the new generation backbones of the Qin Party, Chen Chun is in the Department of Science and Technology, Zhao Zhenji is in the Staff Department, and Xu Gu is in the Central Committee. They are all relatively well-known "tools".
Then I heard Chen Chun ask Xu Tianguan: "Today's discussion is about whether the chief assistant should leave. If the chief assistant leaves, another minister will have to be elected to replace him in the cabinet. Does Tianguan have any intention?"
After thinking about it, everyone understood what Chen Chun meant.
Xu Zan and Xu Tianguan are the most senior officials in the court and the head of the foreign court. If a new bachelor is to be elected, Xu Tianguan is almost the undisputed candidate.
But if Xu Tianguan is a natural cabinet candidate, can he remain impartial when presiding over the meeting today? Should he avoid suspicion?
Institutionally, this is indeed a problem.
Xu Zan frowned and thought for a while, "I have no intention of joining the cabinet! Nor will I accept the recommendation!"
Just not joining the cabinet, this is probably the last stubbornness of the old Tianguan.
The juniors younger than him, such as Xia Yan, Yan Song and others, all joined the cabinet and even became the chief minister, but he was the only one who stayed outside the court.
Under normal circumstances, the cabinet is arranged in order of entry into the cabinet. If he Xu Zan joins the cabinet, he will have to be the last bachelor with the oldest age.
Not only does he have to help the juniors, but he probably won't have the chance to be the first assistant!
Therefore, after careful calculation, Xu Tianguan resolutely gave up the opportunity to join the cabinet and continued to maintain his dignity as the head of the outer dynasty.
In this way, everyone will have no problem. Xu Tianguan, who has no desire to join the cabinet, should theoretically be able to guarantee fairness.
Only Yan Song was the first to quickly calculate the gains and losses. The Qin Party ran against Xu Tianguan and made it clear that he would not join the cabinet. Could it be that he wanted to increase the number of people from the Qin Party to join the cabinet? Is this a plan to let Xu Tianguan join the cabinet or not?
Xu Tianguan was well aware of everyone's mentality, but it had nothing to do with him. After snorting coldly, he started to get down to business and asked Zhai Luan: "There are dozens of bullets in the outer court, what can Shou Kui say? Are you indifferent?"
"
Zhai Luan was actually a loner in the court. He didn't even have anyone who could help him speak. He could only grit his teeth and reply with a stern look: "The chief assistant is appointed by the emperor, and non-human ministers can influence him!"
Immediately, officials from the strict party stood up and accused Zhai Luan, saying: "The public opinion is fierce, and Mr. Zhai Ge doesn't know how to avoid it! I have never seen anyone who looks like he is greedy for power and position!"
A few more people stood up and exchanged a few words with each other, which suddenly put Zhai Shoufu into a rhythm that was criticized by thousands of people.
Although Chief Assistant Zhai was already in such a sorry state, he still had the last bit of stubbornness: "The Chief Assistant is under orders from the Emperor and cannot be abandoned lightly.
If you feel that my moral character is insufficient, feel free to dismiss me, but don't expect me to take the initiative to resign!"
In Yan Song's eyes, this is a bit like a dead pig that is not afraid of boiling water. The premise of everything is that if there is no proven crime, you, Zhai Luan, can of course be as tough as you want.
At this moment, Grand Scholar Zhang Chao stood up and said: "Actually, I have read most of those dozens of bullets, and they are often vague!
Most of the so-called charges are very false and broad, and it is difficult to prove them! If you rely on these to make it easier for the leader to assist you, it will be a case of everyone talking about it."
This was the first person to help Zhai Luan speak, and his identity was so sensitive - he was Qin Dewei's teacher, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.
Is this Qin Dewei trying to protect Zhai Luan? The ultimate intention of the Qin Party is to prevent Yan Song from taking over and continue to protect Zhai Luan as the puppet leader?
Yan Song was pleasantly surprised. He had already lost hope and thought that the Qin Party would really stand still.
Unexpectedly, there were twists and turns, and finally I saw Qin Dang and Zhai Luan standing together! When Qin Dang gets deeper into the situation, they can reveal the truth about Zhai Luan's imperial examination fraud!
Thinking of this, Yan Song immediately gave the party members a hint in his eyes, and quickly started a melee with the Qin party to hold the Qin party back!
Then another member of the strict party came forward and accused Zhang Chao of shielding his colleagues, and the scene became more and more lively.
Suddenly, Chen Chun, the censor who had just questioned Xu Tianguan, stood up again and said to Zhang Chao: "Many teachers are unaware of the inside story. I advise teachers not to cover up for the sake of friendship with colleagues."
Most people were shocked when they heard this. Is this an internal strife within the Qin Party?
Chen Chun is Qin Dewei's thug in the same year and Zhang Chao's disciple. He actually disagrees with his teacher's position?
There are also a few people who are knowledgeable and think about it. Chen Chun seems to often play the role of a villain within the Qin Party. This time too?
Just when everyone was puzzled, Chen Chun said to Zhai Luan again: "Mr. Zhai Ge! I am here to impeach you. In the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination last year, your son colluded with the examiner and committed fraud!"
Among so many impeachments against Zhai Luan, this is the most specific one! Compared with his "corpse meal" and the like, it is certainly the most lethal.
This time it was Mr. Yan Ge's turn to be shocked. Someone in the Qin Party also raised the issue of imperial examination fraud. Is this a coincidence or some other reason?
The key is, this is obviously his trump card, how come the Qin Party revealed it first?
Zhai Luan was immediately furious, truly feeling the threat, and immediately refuted: "You are still slandering people with no evidence or evidence!"
Chen Chun said without giving in: "First, Emperor Taizu Gao had an edict to allow the imperial censor to hear what he said, so even if the subordinate officials did not have solid evidence, it would not hinder the impeachment.
Second, although I don’t have any empirical evidence, it doesn’t mean that others don’t!”
After saying these two sentences, Chen Chun suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed at Yan Song: "Mr. Yan Ge must have solid evidence!"
Yan Song: "..."
Even with Mr. Yan Ge’s IQ, he can’t even understand what kind of trouble your Qin Party is going to make!
The rest of the people were also speechless. Why could the rhythm of the court meeting be full of Qin's weirdness even when Qin Dewei was clearly absent?
Chen Chun withdrew his hand pointing at Mr. Yan Ge. As he swung his arm, several pieces of paper suddenly fell out of his wide sleeves.
Everyone looked at the familiar notes and suddenly understood.
