In a cunning move, Mr. Pan Sheng first threw away his concurrent post as Minister of Rites, and then recommended Xu Xuemo, Shen Shixing's in-law, to take over the vacant post of eldest uncle.
If there is no problem here, Gao pragmatism is willing to write the word "gao" upside down!
However, what exactly is the crux of this problem is highly debatable.
At first glance, the most likely scenario for this incident is that the old guy Pan Sheng saw that the chief assistant had changed, so he jumped to Shen Shixing's side according to his usual style. The root of this cunning operation was simply to take sides.
But this is doubtful, because although Pan Sheng has not had a strong sense of presence in the cabinet for several years, he is mature and it is impossible not to know the true situation of the cabinet.
What is the real situation? Although the cabinet is now headed by Shen Shixing, due to the sudden death of Yu Youding, Shen Shixing is now completely alone. As long as he wants to oppose the opinions or suggestions of the Real School, no matter how big or small the matter is, he has to come out personally.
It's actually quite taboo in the cabinet to know how to use your carriage and horse.
Why is it taboo? Just take the example of Gao Gong. Gao Gong was undoubtedly strong enough in the Long Qing Dynasty, but he actually had helpers in the cabinet. For example, Zhang Juzheng, who tried every means to revive him and invite him back to Beijing, was
His helper. And one helper was not enough, Gao Gong also invited Guo Pu back under Gao Pragmatic's suggestion - in the original history, he promoted Gao Yi, but there is no difference in intention between the two.
, all looking for help.
It can be seen that even Gao Gong, who is as powerful as Long Qingchao, knows that he cannot be alone in the cabinet and must adhere to the principle of "one hero and three gangs" in order to firmly control the situation.
The situation Shen Shixing is facing now is even worse than when Gao Gong first returned to Beijing, and although his holy family is not bad, it is certainly not as good as Gao Gong in the past. At this time, an old fox like Pan Sheng is really
Will they silently choose to side with Shen Shixing, the chief assistant who has a low chance of winning?
This may be a question mark.
Another point is that Pan Sheng's fundamental position in the cabinet can be summed up as "basically neutral, slightly leaning toward the wind."
To put it bluntly, this attitude is to listen to whichever side is strong, but never take the lead at any time. Every time, it shows the appearance of "the general trend is like this, and there is nothing I can do about it."
The advantage of this attitude is that it neither offends the "real prime minister" who controls the trend, nor overly offends the other faction - the other faction is not a child, of course it knows the weight of his old Pan. He can't object at all, he just takes advantage of the trend to express his position.
, do you still want to punish him to death, and finally bring him to the side of the "true prime minister"?
Who among the dignified elders would be so naive? Neutralists are all able to fight for it as much as they can, but if they can't win, they should try their best to prevent him from going against them.
After all, this is not yet the most severe period of party struggle in the late Ming Dynasty in history. It has not reached the point where it is either you die or I die. Everyone still maintains the final clarity of mind.
So from these two points, two basic conclusions can be drawn: First, Pan Sheng does not need to jump into the fire pit; second, Shen Shixing is unlikely to force Pan Sheng to take a clear stance.
This is so strange. Gao Pingshi drank two cups of tea in a row without clarifying the truth. After all, we can't come to the conclusion that Mr. Pan is simply crazy, right?
You can't joke like this when engaging in politics. Even if someone is really crazy, his behavior must be viewed as a decision made after careful consideration.
It is better to worry too much than to fail to observe. This is a consistent principle of high pragmatism.
But this matter seems to have reached a dead end now. Looking at it horizontally and vertically, it doesn't make sense.
"It doesn't make sense. That means there must be situations that I can't control." Gao pragmatically tapped his fingers on the table, while his mind kept recalling some of the recent actions of Pan Sheng and Shen Shixing, and carefully examined these actions.
Is there possibly some connection.
Oh, by the way, there is also Xu Xuemo.
Xu Xuemo is Shen Shixing's in-law. This is the first thing that everyone in the Practical School will think of when they hear this name. However, at this time, Gao Pragmatic suddenly felt that he should not be limited by his prejudices and always looked at the problem from this perspective. Now
We should first jump out of this shackles and look at it from a higher perspective.
What kind of person is Xu Xuemo? His courtesy name is Shuming, also known as Ziyan, and his nickname is Taishishanren. He is from Jiading, Suzhou Prefecture, South Zhili. He was a gold medalist in the 29th year of Jiajing. His qualifications can be said to be very old, but he is not young either.
, already sixty-four years old (virtual age).
Being from Suzhou, that is, Shen Shixing's hometown, it is not surprising that they became in-laws.
But why did Pan Sheng recommend Xu Xuemo? Pan Sheng was from Zhejiang, and he was not from the same hometown as Shen Shixing, and Xu Xuemo was not in the same hometown. Moreover, he was named on the gold list earlier, and he was second in the Jiajing 20th year, and he was not the same year as Shen Shixing and Xu Xuemo.
Damn it, he can't support his juniors for no reason, right? If the juniors want to support them, there are simply too many people he can support - this old man has been the Minister of Etiquette for so many years, and he also has a lot of disciples.
, but his power in the cabinet is not very "real". He might not even be able to support his disciples, so he still has time to take care of Xu Xuemo's business?
Besides, Xu Xuemo is now the minister of the Ministry of Justice, and his status is not low. He is also one of the big guys of the Xin School. Should he be promoted by Mr. Pan? Shen Shixing is also the chief minister after all. Even if it is not convenient for him to recommend his in-laws, it is not impossible.
The method can be accommodating - for example, if Shu Hua, the Minister of Punishment, is given an opportunity to be promoted, wouldn't Shu Hua reciprocate the favor and recommend Xu Xuemo to take over his position?
As an official, you don't understand the logic of carrying people in a sedan chair, so why are you messing around? Wouldn't it be better to go back to your hometown and wander around the forest early than Tsinghua University?
Okay, we've reached a dead end again.
Gao pragmatically picked up the tea cup with some upset, and found that the third cup of tea was also empty. He was stunned for a moment, couldn't help but shook his head, stood up, and let out a long breath.
While he was troubled, Gao Mo asked to see him outside the door.
Gao Pingshi let him in and asked, "Have you found anything?"
Gao Mo bowed slightly and said: "Sir, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has some clues, but I don't know if it is related to Mr. Pan Ge's actions this time."
"Say!" Gao Pragmatic's eyes lit up and he said immediately.
Gao Mo didn't say much. He opened a book that looked like an account book in his hand, turned to the place where he had inserted a bookmark, looked at it, and said: "Two months ago, two maritime merchants in Zhejiang transferred the Ningbo private company belonging to their home to
There are a total of twenty-seven berths in the port, and they were sold to Pan Yi - Mr. Pan's nephew - at a price far lower than the market price."
Gao Pragmatic's eyes suddenly narrowed, and a flash of light flashed in his eyes.
"There must be something related?"
"The master has seen thousands of miles, and there is indeed more." Gao Mo turned over two more pages, looked at it, and said: "The Xujia Private Port in Songjiang divided the shares previously held by Liu Shouyou's family into two, half of which
It was transferred to Pan Yi privately, and the reason used was that he would be hired at a lower level."
If you want to be hired, you must get married. But specifically who from the Xu family will get married to who from the Pan family. This pragmatic Gao is not interested in asking more. He just needs to know the meaning of it.
"Haha, that's what happened." Gao pragmatically nodded, already understanding the root of the problem, but still subconsciously asked: "Is there anything else?"
Unexpectedly, Gao Mo replied: "Yes, there is more."
Gao Pingshi was stunned this time and frowned: "Shen Shi... Shen Yuanfu shouldn't have any port shares, right?"
"It wasn't Shen Yuanfu, it was two other people who also sold some shares at low prices, and even some ships to Pan Yi." Gao Mo turned over the account book in his hand and said: "The value of the port shares is about 110,000.
It is about two to one hundred and thirty thousand taels, and the market price of the ship is higher, about one hundred and seventy thousand or eighty thousand taels. Added together, it can be calculated as almost three hundred thousand taels."
"Such a big deal?" Gao Pragmatic couldn't help but be a little surprised.
Three hundred thousand taels, one-twentieth of the annual income of the imperial treasury. If this amount of money were saved a little, it would almost be enough to fight a war in Yunnan and Burma (only counting the expenses of the imperial court).
"Which two companies paid for this?" Gao Pragmatic became serious.
"Wang Xijue, Xu Xuemo."
Gao Pragmatic was stunned: "Wang Xijue?"
Xu Xuemo was the final beneficiary of Pan Shengsao's operation. It's not surprising that he was involved. Gao Pingshi had already estimated it in his heart just now. But Wang Xijue... why did he get involved? This guy wasn't Ding You at home, he even
Did you inexplicably learn some magical magic from Wang Shizhen’s daughter who claimed to be an immortal? (Note: This matter has been mentioned in the previous article and is a historical fact. It is recorded in official history.)
Gao Mo simply replied: "Yes, sir, it is Wang Xijue. But he did not handle it personally, but there is no difference - the person in charge of this matter is the Wang family's chief steward."
No wonder the "amount involved" is as high as 300,000 taels. The Wang family has been the richest man in Suzhou many years ago. You can imagine the wealth of the family with your toes. It is definitely not short of the 300,000 taels - this is Suzhou.
This is a land of gold that accounts for nearly one-tenth of the world's wealth. How good is the richest man in Suzhou? Is there any need to doubt me?
Gao Pragmatic even suspected that the Zhang family in Puzhou might not be as rich as the Wang family in Suzhou. After all, although the monopoly of the Changlu Saltworks was very powerful, the Zhang family's rise in the business world was shorter than that of the Wang family. This accumulation of wealth still takes time.
, not everyone can be as pragmatic as him and build a Jinghua Group in more than ten years.
The crux of the problem was found, but the sharpness behind it made Gao Pragmatic a little unable to sit still.
He asked Gao Mo to keep all the relevant information for him to check and confirm, and then asked Gao Mo to rest first while he carefully studied the sequence of events in his room.
Now that these things have surfaced, Pan Sheng's actions can be explained. It is no longer a dead end. This is the only good news among the bad news at the moment, which can prevent oneself from being blind.
However, the meaning behind this incident really made Gao Pragmatic take a breath.
When he told the information in Gaomo, he remembered what Wu Dui's son Wu Xun had analyzed with him before (Note: See "Fu Liaodong" volume, Chapter 233 "Humility and Refusal").
It seems that the Zhejiang maritime merchant families did not choose to simply form a "Zhejiang Maritime Trade Alliance" or "Zhejiang Maritime Trade Alliance" in the end. Instead, they at least contacted the representatives of the civil service group in Nanzhili, who were born in the Xinxue School.
The big guys in the southern Zhili area have united.
The specific development process of this matter is not clear to Gao Jingshi, and it is impossible to speculate in detail, but generally speaking, it may be the result of the Zhejiang maritime merchant family and the Nanjing nobles seeking help after failing, and then turning to the leaders of the Heart School for help.
.
What Gao Pragmatic can conclude is that despite the fact that the evidence in hand only shows that Xu Xuemo and Wang Xijue gave Pan Yi shares and ships, there must be other transfers of interests behind it. And this transfer of interests must be the result of Zhejiang maritime merchants bleeding money
, add to Xu Xuemo and Wang Xijue - Xu and Wang will not buy Pan Sheng at a loss on their own. They should actually be the spokespersons of the DPRK and China that the Zhejiang maritime merchant family is prepared to spend money to support.
Needless to say, Xu Xuemo's qualifications are not bad. He was a Jinshi in the 29th year of Jiajing's reign, and he is already the minister of the Ministry of punishment. With a little push, he can find an opportunity to take the position - no, Pan Sheng took the initiative to give up his talents!
And Wang Xijue is even more powerful. Even though Ding You is in his hometown now, he is Huiyuan who took the imperial examination in the 41st year of Jiajing. The second place in the imperial examination is one of the iron triangle of "Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, and Yu Youding"
one.
It can be said that if his father had not happened to be seriously ill before and he had to return to his hometown to take care of his father, and then Ding was really worried, then since Shen Shixing and Yu Youding have both joined the cabinet, it is basically certain that he will join the cabinet.
Even in terms of his reputation in court and Shilin, he should at least have a better chance than Yu Youding.
Gao Pragmatic did the math and discovered a big problem: Wang Xijue and Ding You's period is about to expire!
"Fuck, one link after another!" Gao pragmatic thought of this, couldn't help but pat the table, and cursed in a low voice: "The level of the Xin School has improved now...or is it because the first assistant has always been
Are our people unable to perform even if they are capable?"
But no matter what, the situation is now in front of us. The old man Pan Sheng must have been knocked down by sugar-coated bullets, and he even plans to use his own way to pave the way for the Heart School.
This is really ironic.
Sugar-coated bullets have always been my specialty. Who knew that this time the Heart School would take the lead? Who would dare to believe it?
However, "Jinghua will give double what Zhejiang Maritime Merchant gives" is something that is not considered pragmatic. It's not that he is reluctant to give up money. The key is that there may be regional factional issues in this matter - Pan Sheng himself is from Zhejiang
He is a man, and he is already very young. It would only take two or three years for him to work normally until he becomes an official. If he offends the deep-rooted Zhejiang maritime merchants, no one can guarantee what kind of situation he will face when he returns to his hometown in the future.
Direct killing may not be possible, but if a few "Japanese pirate remnants" appear in a place like Zhejiang and wipe out Pan Sheng's family... Although this is shocking, it is really not a big deal. You must know that when Japanese pirates were rampant in the past, many high-ranking officials' families
Being looted? Everyone is used to it.
Even if it is not so rampant, when Pan Sheng himself dies, if there is no up-and-coming star in his family who can be the pillar of the DPRK, wouldn't it be easy for the Zhejiang Maritime Group to kill their family? So since Pan Sheng chose to "surrender to the enemy",
Then there is no need to fight anymore.
There is no turning back when the bow is drawn.
Gao pragmatic sighed softly and shook his head slightly.
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