That night, Zhao Gongzi held an emergency meeting of the Tingyi Operational Headquarters in his study.

Zhao Liben, Dingguo Gong Xu Wenbi, Ji Gonggong, Zheng Ruozeng, Tang Youde, Zhang Qianfa and other members of the command gathered together and looked at Zhao Hao.

“…… That's the case. Zhao Hao first told everyone the latest situation, and then said with a gloomy expression: "This will be a severe test for us!" ”

"yes." Everyone nodded one after another, and in their pre-calculations, Li Shoufu should at least be neutral. And Zhang Xianggong is well aware of the righteousness, and eighty percent of them support them. No one expected that Li Chunfang finally decided to stand on the opposite side, and Zhang Juzheng also slipped away, which made their situation with a great chance of winning, and suddenly became precarious.

"I heard that this time, Cao Yun's gang threw a lot of money in Beijing, lobbied one by one, and secretly instructed Cao Ding to enter Beijing to make trouble, although they were stopped in Shandong, but they have sounded the alarm for the imperial court." Xu Wenbi sighed lightly and said, "Lord Shoufu has been talking about 'quiet and inaction' all day long, I'm afraid that I will be intimidated by those dogs. ”

"Haha, well said, what a dog!" Zhao Liben held a one-foot-long brass cigarette barrel with a mahogany mouth and took a beautiful puff. While enjoying the happiness of swallowing clouds and spitting fog, he sneered: "Although Shandong has exaggerated the number of troublemakers, the dignified Shoufu can scare the dog, which can be seen to be more cowardly than the dog." ”

Europeans have been smoking for decades, and the cigarette holder used by Mr. Zhao was bought by Paul Tang from the Portuguese when he went to Macau to purchase.

But Zhao Hao felt that smoking was harmful to his health, so he didn't ask for his gift, and he didn't plan to let the old man smoke. So Tang Paul honored Tang Youde with the cigarette holder and tobacco.

Don quickly became addicted to smoking, and he took several board members into ruin. Zhao Liben entered Beijing this time, and he was also developed into a smoker by Lao Tang, and he still used the cigarette barrel that Tang Paul gave Zhao Hao.

It can be seen that some things are destined to happen, and they can't be stopped.

~~

"The situation has changed, we can't hide it anymore, we have to go all out to fight them!" Zhao Hao has adjusted his mood and regained his fighting spirit.

"Not bad! Let them see the strength of our Xishan company! And the people began to shout.

"Let's recount the votes first." Zhao Hao used the wooden stick in his hand to knock on the wall behind him.

The thick velvet curtain pulls open, revealing a snow-white wall. On the wall, there are three different colored iron sheets: blue, yellow, and white. On both sides of the blue and yellow houses, the whiteboard in the middle is plastered with name tags embedded with magnets.

There are a total of 45 famous brands, most of the names are like thunder, there are Yang Bo, the secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Huo Ji, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Mao Kai, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Ma Sen, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Zhu Heng and Xue Songyi, the imperial history of the Zuodu, and Dong Chuance, the secretary of the Dali Temple.

and fifteen squires from the six divisions...... Among them, there are four squires in the military department, and there is also a governor Kuraba squire in the household department.

In addition, there are Taichang Siqing, Guanglu Siqing, Taifu Siqing, Shuntianfu Yin, Jiliao Governor, and Shandong Governor. The two left deputy governors of the Imperial Court and the four superintendents of the Imperial History. The six subjects are all given to the middle of the matter, as well as the left of the engineering department is given to the middle of the matter, and the left of the household department is given to the middle of the matter. There is also the Ministry of Works, which is a clear official of the Ministry of Labor.

This is the person who has the right to vote in the court meeting three days later. Cabinet members preside over the meeting, but they do not vote.

Then Zhao Hao and everyone analyzed the possible flow of each vote one by one.

Although there is no obvious party dispute in the Ming Dynasty, factions have always existed. Officials formed different factions, large and small, based on various relationships such as hometown friendship, annual friendship, interests, in-laws, subordination, political opinions, and temperament.

Although there will be differences in attitudes within the faction when facing different people and events, basically the same faction still focuses on advancing and retreating together and maintaining consistency, so as to enhance the influence of their own group and safeguard the interests of the group.

These 45 voting ministers, if they are divided into factions, will be divided according to different criteria, and there will be different methods of division. Obviously, in this kind of matter involving tens of millions of mulberry trees, the origin will be the biggest stumbling block, and the rest of the factors must be retreated.

Zhao Hao divided the 45 people into 10 from Jiangnan, 6 from Jiangbei, 3 from Jiangxi, 5 from Shanxi, 4 from Shandong, 4 from Beizhi, 3 from Henan, 3 from Huguang, 5 from Fujian and Guangdong, and 2 from Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou.

Among them, Jiangnan nationality includes the Jiangnan part of Nanzhili plus Zhejiang. Jiangbei guide: Zhili Jiangbei part.

"All Jiangnan officials are on our side." Zhao Hao snapped his fingers, and Sun Dawu hurriedly transferred the name tags of the ten Jiangnan officials to the blue board.

"All Jiangbei officials are resolute Cao Yun Party." Zhao Hao said again: "Now that Shoufu has such an attitude, it is even more impossible for them to stand with us." ”

Sun Dawu glued the name tags of the six Jiangbei officials to the yellow board.

"I've talked to officials in Jiangxi, and basically it's not a big problem." Zhao Liben took a deep breath of the cigarette tube, spit out white mist from his nose and said: "If you change to sea, the burden on Jiangxi Province will also be reduced, which is a good thing, and you can't help but support it." ”

Sun Dawu added three more to the blue board.

"Shandong's nationality is not mentioned." Zhang Qianfa smiled bitterly: "Whether it is the canal or the Jiaolai River, they all pass through their territory, and they are the most hardcore supporters of Caoyun Group." ”

Sun Dawu added four more to the yellow board.

"Those Henan Yankees are closer to the canal than the sea, and they don't like us for a long time." Father-in-law Ji smiled bitterly, even if he didn't say it from the interests. Henan finally had two pavilion elders, Gao Gong and Guo Pu, but both of them were squeezed into the wilderness by Xu Gelao.

By the way, there is also the grievance between Gao Gong and Zhao Liben, and it is strange that Henan villagers can look at Jiangnan people.

"The four of Beizhi, let's pull over two." Xu Wenbi took a sip of tea and said: "But the two people of Cangzhou and the Daimyo Mansion are iron-hearted Baocao luck, and they can't pull it, they really can't pull it." ”

Sun Dawu added two to each side.

At this time, there are fifteen name tags on the blue board and fifteen on the yellow board.

There are still fifteen famous brands left on the white board, which are five from Shanxi, three from Huguang, five from Fujian and Guangdong, and two from Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan and Guizhou.

These fifteen people are the key to victory or defeat.

"How did you talk to those old Xi'er?" Zhao Liben asked Zhao Hao with a smoke ring.

Zhao Hao's eyes were straight, he had only been smoking for a few days, and he had learned to spit out smoke rings? Is there anything in this world that an old man can't play?

"I thought it would be okay." After a pause, Zhao Haofang replied: "Negotiate with Lao Yang, as long as they let them participate in a share after the matter is completed, you can vote for us." As he spoke, he touched the back of his head and said, "But the things of the day have left me at a loss." ”

"Those old Xi'er can't be trusted." Zheng Ruozeng coughed twice, he choked on the smell of smoke, and said slowly: "At the beginning, they also promised Hu Butang to be good, saying that as long as he could help Wang Chonggu become the governor of Ningxia, they would protect him for the evening." As a result, after Hu Butang fulfilled the contract, they still turned against the water and let Hu Butang die in prison. Ahem...... Later, I learned that Yang Bo changed him to a heavenly official. ”

"Yes, Yang Tianguan is too shrewd, and the people of Shanxi are too good." Seeing that Lao Zheng couldn't smell this, Zhao Liben picked up the copper cap from the table apologetically, buckled it on the cigarette tube, and the tobacco in it naturally went out. "They will only be on the side of the winners, and I think at the moment, the backlash may not be small."

Zhao Hao nodded, he was also worried that the attitude of the cabinet would affect the choice of the Shanxi Gang.

He signaled to Sun Dawu to make five Shanxi famous brands to be determined.

"The five people in Fujian and Guangdong are also a little troublesome." Zhang Qianfa sighed and said, "They have already seen that we drunkards don't mean to drink." Of course, they don't want us to steal business with them. ”

"Yes, they wish that we would ban Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the sea to the end, and the monopoly of maritime trade in Fujian and Guangdong provinces is not beautiful?" Tang Youde smiled bitterly.

"But fortunately, Ma Butang is from Fujian, and Lin Zhongcheng's reputation in the township party is also very high." Zhao Hao said lightly: "We can at least keep Fujian's three votes." ”

So Sun Dawu divided the five people of Fujian and Guangdong into three in blue and two into yellow.

Zhao Hao's gaze crossed the three of Huguang, fell on the remaining two Sichuan bigwigs, Zhao Zhenji and Wang Ting, and said in a deep voice:

"Wang Zongxian goes without saying, and Zhao Dazhougong, the young uncle, also promised that he would support our vote."

Sun Dawu added two more to the blue board.

In this way, the number of votes for sea transportation came to twenty, and the number of votes for Cao Yun came to seventeen.

There are still five votes left in Shanxi and three votes in Huguang, and they still can't win lightly.

In Zhao Hao's original calculation, these eight votes were basically no problem. In this way, 28 votes for your own side will naturally win by more than half of them!

But Zhang Juzheng suddenly disappeared at this time, which made the whole situation suddenly suspenseful.

"The three of Huguang are all looking forward to Zhang Taiyue's horse, and before he goes to Changping, he must have explained how they voted." Zhao Liben flicked the cigarette ash that fell on the hem of his robe, and said quietly: "Then the question is, why did he hide out?" ”

"Zhang Taiyue is not a person who is afraid of things, and it has nothing to do with him." Xu Wenbi smiled bitterly.

"No, his actions show that, at least from his standpoint, this matter has something to do with him." Zhao Liben shook his head categorically.

So what does it matter? What good can he get by hiding out? "The chicken is worried and wants to lay eggs.

"It's simple." Zheng Ruozeng had already figured it out, and sighed a little helplessly: "The discussion of shipping has been brewing for months, and with Zhang Xianggong's shrewdness, we can probably calculate which people will be on our side and which ones will not." He must know in his heart that even if Yuanfu doesn't support it, as long as he and Shanxi's eight votes vote for us, we can still win. ”

After a pause, he coughed again and said, "Or vice versa." ”