Regarding Zhang Zhi's appointment as Vice Minister of Zhongshu two months ago.
Cai was indeed both happy and angry.
I am so happy that this little follower who has been with me for many years, who I have watched grow up with my own eyes, is now the prime minister.
He was so angry that Zhang Zhi suddenly jumped above him.
Zhang Yue is fine, but Zhang Zhi is so virtuous and capable that he is still ranked above him. Looking at the current situation, after Zhang Yue resigns as prime minister, Zhang Zhi will immediately follow suit and replace himself as Zhang Yue's right prime minister.
Why?
Becoming the Right Prime Minister to rule the world is what Cai Que has always thought about.
Anyone who stands in the way needs to be eradicated.
Cai Que held the paper written by Zhang Zhi in his palm.
Xing Shu asked at the side: "I wonder what Cai Gong wrote in this letter?"
Cai Que said: "It's nothing more than trivial matters. What do you think of Zhang Zizheng?"
Xing Shu considered it and said: "Xing has never had any contact with Zhang Zizheng, but I heard that he is a decent person and can be called loyal. However, if he wants to replace Cai Gong as the right prime minister in the future, he is really overestimating his capabilities."
Cai Que closed his eyes and reached out to press the center of his eyebrows repeatedly, then opened his eyes and said, "Zizheng has an old friendship with me after all. I watched him grow up. I don't want to deal with him unless I have to."
Xing Shu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Cai Gong is so kind and kind. He really repays evil with kindness."
"In fact, Zhang Zizheng is more generous than Zhang Sanlang, and he has an old friendship with Mr. Cai, so we can get along with him in the future."
Cai Que glanced at Xing Shu and saw that Xing Shu had been promoted by him to the position of Wai Lang, the director of the driving department.
This man has attached himself to Sima Guang and Zhang Yue successively, and now his son Xing Jushi is in the sect of Mr. Lu. How can he speak for Zhang Zhi? This man seems to be betting on both sides, but he also seems to want to reconcile the conflicts between the four parties.
"What brought you here today?" Cai Que asked.
Xing Shu said: "For Duke Cai, I have recently heard that Your Majesty drinks deer blood frequently and is a little restrained. Xing can't help but feel a little worried."
"This is a palace matter. Who did you listen to?"
Xing Shu said: "The lower official had a relationship with Gao Gonghui, the nephew of the Empress Dowager, and I have heard about Gao Gong's discipline."
Cai Quedao: "Your Majesty's dragon body is not very healthy, and now he drinks deer blood frequently. It is really not a way to support his years."
"But Gao Gonghui, why does Gao Gongji associate with you?"
Hearing Cai Zhen's harsh words, Xing Shu was startled and said immediately: "Empress Dowager Gao and Concubine Zhu are not getting along. I think the Gao family is worried that once the sixth son of the emperor inherits the treasure, and the empress dowager is gone in the future, the entire Gao family will disappear.
.”
Cai Que nodded and said: "Cai is so greatly benefited from His Majesty's knowledge and kindness that he will repay even if he goes to the sword mountain or the oil pan. Although the emperor's sixth son is young, he already has the image of a sage emperor. Just in case, I mean just in case.
Your Majesty, if there is any sign of hesitation in the body of a dragon, Cai will swear to the death to assist the emperor's sixth son to ascend the throne!"
"You might as well test Gao Gonghui and Gao Gongji's opinions on King Yong and King Cao with your words!"
"If there is any disagreement between the two of you, report it to me immediately!"
Xing Shu heard this and said in his heart: "With Cai Gong in charge of the overall situation, the world has nothing to worry about."
After Xing Shu left, Cai Que looked at Zhang Zhi's handwriting and thought, was this written by you or your uncle?
…
After staying to play the duel that day, Zhang Yue went downstairs to meet Cai Que.
"Zuo Cheng, what's important?" Zhang Yue asked.
Cai Quedao: "I happen to be passing by, please allow Cai to accompany the prime minister for a while!"
Zhang Yue thought to himself that after that beating, Cai Que's attitude towards him became more and more respectful.
Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty has already made a decision on the Huguang matter. Given the time, it can be done from Suhu to Huguang, and the world will be familiar with it. If this matter is completed, it will be remembered in history, but this time It won't take three or five years to do this, I'm afraid I won't be able to see the results, and I will have to work hard to stay upright in the future."
Cai Quedao: "The development of Huguang is a matter of contemporary merit and benefit to the future. It was personally decided by His Majesty. How dare Cai not do his best? He is only afraid that he will not be qualified because of his weak talent and shallow virtue."
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "Why do you say that when you are upright? Sun Quan encouraged Lü Meng to learn from him, and Lü Meng asked him to learn from him. Therefore, Lu Su's words of admiration came to him after three days of separation. After that, Lü Meng was of great use."
Cai Que was stunned when he heard this. Does Zhang Yue mean to put more burden on himself by saying this?
Zhang Yue said again: "Zhizheng, you have watched my nephew grow up, and I have to ask you to take care of him from now on."
"The prime minister has such high regard, but Cai really doesn't dare to accept it."
Cai Que thought to himself, could it be that Zhang Yue recommended Zhang Zhi not to replace himself? Or maybe the emperor had some change of heart.
Cai indeed couldn't see through all this. Could it be that he had misunderstood Zhang Yuezhang's uncle and nephew?
Zhang Yue has always been gentle in his actions. Even when he dealt with his political opponents Lu Huiqing, Yuan Jiang, Li Chengzhi and others, he did not act harshly. He was just demoted to another state.
Of course, Zhang Yue's mild actions are closely related to the political environment.
For decades, when high-ranking officials committed crimes, at most they were demoted to the position of magistrate, and they could be re-instated at any time. Therefore, at the level of the governor, no one was too heavy-handed, and they did not dare to use many despicable methods against each other.
What if you fail to beat the other party to death by some means, and the other party returns to the court in the future? You may be too old to be dead, but do you have no descendants or relatives? What should they do? Aren't they afraid of retaliation?
Therefore, the Prime Minister would always stop at the point of his attack, and everyone would fight without defeat.
Therefore, the life of the prime minister of the Song Dynasty was quite comfortable compared to the high-risk professions of the prime ministers of the Han and Tang Dynasties.
The general environment is like this, but there are not without exceptions. If there is one exception among the prime ministers from Renzong to Shen Dynasty, it may be Cai Que.
He, Cai Que, has done so many dirty things for the emperor over the years and handled many major cases. Including the recent Chen Shiru case. As the son of the prime minister, the other party would always be lenient to any prime minister, not even the emperor. Meaning to kill him.
But Cai Que must kill him.
How could Cai Que not know that those who do not leave room for others will not be given room for by others.
But when he got to this point, it was too late to turn back.
Of course, Cai Que was also very clear about Zhang Yue's methods. Zhang Yue always used to pull and hit.
He will hit you to see your reaction. If you show that you are convinced, he will give you a proper pull. If you are not convinced, he will hit you again.
Because of Zhang Zhi's excuse, he and Cai Que decided to take it easy and not to do anything until it was absolutely necessary.
At this moment, Zhang Yue glanced at Cai Que, believing that the other party had understood what he meant.
The official did not immediately appoint Cai Que as a minister, but appointed Zhang Zhi as a minister of Zhongshu. This move was quite meaningful. Zhang Yue was worried that Cai Que would be dissatisfied with Zhang Zhi, so he had to give him some hints. But he himself
You can't go overboard. After all, the appointment of prime minister is the emperor's grace, and you can't show favor for the emperor.
So Zhang Yue made a slight point and used Lu Meng's example.
He told Cai Que in the name of entrusting him with the matter in Huguang.
This prevents Cai Que from going to extremes, Zhang Yue has always been merciful and merciful, and he may not be able to do anything in Cai Que's hands in the future.
In fact, Zhang Yue didn't have to do anything by himself to deal with Cai Que. If he did it himself, he might not win, because Zhang Yue couldn't break through the bottom line, but Cai Que could.
Secondly, when dealing with evil people, God usually takes action. Only fools have to take action themselves.
Please collect_()
In fact, Zhang Yue has secretly buried a lot of holes for Cai Zhen in these years.
To be precise, Zhang Yue and Cai Chu cannot be described as a good person, a bad person, a gentleman, or a villain.
Zhang Yue often lamented that if there were no power struggles, he might be more gentle and courteous than anyone else.
It's a pity that when they are in this position, they all shoot without turning back or have too much control over themselves. Cai Que is also the same.
Zhang Yue and Cai Que were walking and chatting when suddenly a chamberlain arrived and said: "My dear husband, your Majesty has fainted."
Zhang Yue and Cai Zhen were both shocked when they heard this, and immediately followed the instructions of the chamberlain to proceed.
Cai Que said: "Wait a minute, where did your Majesty faint?"
The chamberlain said: "It was at Xin Zhaorong's banquet! Your Majesty..."
"How is your Majesty?"
The chamberlain said: "Your Majesty, I drank a glass of deer blood this morning!"
Cai Que stamped his feet and said, "It's deer blood again! You don't know if your majesty can accept it..."
The chamberlain said: "How many lives do we have, we don't dare to persuade you!"
Zhang Yue glanced at Cai Que, "You know this and don't say anything about it yourself. Let the chamberlain do the talking."
Zhang Yue said: "The matter has come to this, it is useless to say more. I will go to see His Majesty first before talking."
Zhang Yue and Cai Que hurried to the emperor's bedroom. Along the way, Zhang Yue peeked at Cai Que's expression, and he was indeed very nervous.
This was not due to Cai Que's acting skills. Zhang Yue understood that the other party's emotions definitely came from the bottom of his heart and were not pretending.
Cai Que was indeed more loyal to the officials than himself. And the officials knew how to recognize people and would not promote someone who was not loyal to him as prime minister.
Cai Que is not a person who values friendship.
It's a pity, they say, 'Brothers will survive all the calamities, and grudges will be forgotten with a smile when we meet.' People can reconcile, but it is difficult to reconcile as before.
He and Cai Que will never have the deep friendship they had when they were classmates at Taixue.
Zhang Yue sighed secretly in his heart. When he arrived at the palace gate, the servant wanted to stop him.
However, Cai Que glanced sharply at them, and several chamberlains were forced by Cai Que. When they saw two more prime ministers approaching, they immediately stepped aside.
At this moment, Concubine Zhu has arrived, and the Queen is still on her way.
The chamberlain on the side reported: "Your Majesty has woken up under the acupuncture given by the imperial doctor."
Zhang Yue and Cai Que were overjoyed and entered the palace immediately. They saw the official lying on the bed with a wound under his lip. Fortunately, he had woken up and was just looking at the top of the palace with his eyes blankly.
Although there were many medical officers and servants in the palace, none of them dared to speak at this moment. They were standing around the emperor's bed five or six feet away.
Zhang Yue carefully looked at Hui Guan's face and immediately walked up to the bed and asked, "Is your Majesty okay?"
The official said slowly, "I'll be at peace for a while."
Seeing that the official was weak in speech, Zhang Yue stopped going through the motions and talked nonsense and decided to get straight to the point.
Zhang Yue said: "Your Majesty, the dragon's health will turn disaster into good luck. We need to arrange for the ministers from the three provinces to stay tonight!"
The official nodded.
Zhang Yue's eyes narrowed and he asked again: "Does Your Majesty want the prince of Yan'an County (the sixth son of the emperor) to come in and serve the decoction?"
The official could hardly say anything at this moment, so he just shook his head tiredly.
After Zhang Yue said these few words, he immediately left.
After leaving the palace, Cai Que followed Zhang Yue closely and asked, "Why didn't the prime minister ask the prince of Yan'an County three times to serve the decoction in front of the emperor?"
Zhang Yue glanced at Cai Que and was furious, "NMB, you, Cai Que, are the most loyal in the world."
Zhang Yue finally said: "Your Majesty has already said that it is impossible, why should I ask again?"
"You and I will go to the capital hall to ask for instructions from the left prime minister!"
"good!"
Cai Que thought to himself, Zhang San, Zhang San, you think I don’t know your thoughts. Your Majesty is ill now. I bet you, Zhang San, are the happiest in the world!