Seeing that it was about to be cold, Jiang Si, who had been outside, hurriedly squeezed into the mourning hall and said, "The lower official will meet the prime minister." Shao Xiang, it is really an honor for me to come. ”

Shao An took a look at it, it turned out to be Jiang Si, as Jiang Jiamin's cousin, so he helped in Jiang's mansion and took care of the aftermath. Shao An comforted him and said: "Lord Jiang sacrificed his life for the country, so he should come to mourn, and hope that his relatives and friends will mourn and change." ”

Jiang Si cried: "Thank you Shao for your concern." My cousin, Lord Jiang, has been honest all his life and doesn't have much savings. Once he died, he died suddenly, leaving orphans and widows, how to support this family? ”

Shao An listened to it with a very bad feeling in his heart, and saw several children kneeling next to him, the eldest son was about seventeen or eighteen years old, and the youngest child was only six or seven years old, and he had no father at a young age.

"Don't worry. The emperor said that the funeral expenses were paid by the state treasury, and several children of Lord Jiang were first arranged to study in the country, and then became officials after completing their studies. "This is what the emperor discussed with Shao An, and it has not been officially decreed, so outsiders naturally don't know.

Jiang Xi also guessed that the emperor would have a grace, and now when he heard Shao An say this, he felt more confident in his heart, and hurriedly agreed: "Heavenly grace is vast, thank you for your compassion, Shao Xiang takes care of him." ”

Shao An nodded, "Relatives of the Jiang Mansion, as a relative, you should also take care of it more." You've been in the Criminal Department for several years, and you should be promoted. If there is a suitable officer, this officer will pay attention to you. ”

"Thank you, Xiang Shao." Jiang Si was moved to tears, if he hadn't taken into account the heavy atmosphere in the hall, he would probably be overjoyed.

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After the funeral of Jiang Jiamin and the rest of the victims, the emperor rewarded the meritorious ministers. The first one was Dong Qiming, who was promoted to the secretary of the Ministry of Rites.

After going through twists and turns, the power of the Ministry of Rites is finally in the hands of Dong Qiming. Last time, Shao An secretly prevented Dong Qiming from serving as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, but now the emperor overturned the former meeting of the ministry, which made the attentive officials catch a hint of the sign - Shao Xiang fell out of favor.

Then Jiang Si, the position of the left waiter of the Ministry of Rites was vacant, and Shao An asked him to transfer from the Criminal Department to the Ministry of Rites, replacing Dong Qiming.

Finally, there is an eye-catching military promotion, this time Gao Wei made another military exploit, as a privy envoy, Gao Wei is considered to be the peak of military generals, a very good minister, and there is no reward. The emperor could only give gold and silver, and granted the opening of the palace with the three divisions (1), for a time, Gao Wei was unmatched.

The generals who followed Gao Wei on the expedition were all rewarded, among which Li Hongyi was promoted the fastest, and suddenly from General Xuanwei of the fourth rank to General Huaihua of the third grade, I don't know how many people were envious. However, when he thought of the great exploits of the forward battalion under his leadership, as well as the time when he escorted Shao An to negotiate peace, he won glory for the country again and again, and no matter how generous the reward was, it was not too much.

The generals raised their eyebrows, swept away the defeat under the previous blow of Zhongshu Province, and even had the meaning of provocation. After experiencing this, Shao An had already died down and was unwilling to compete with the Privy Council.

It's a pity that political struggles have always been cruel, and Shao An, who is in the whirlpool of struggle, how can he avoid it if he wants to? Besides, how could Gao Wei let go of this great opportunity, not pull Shao An down from the phase, dismiss the official and remove him, how could he give up?

The clarion call for war finally sounded, and the controversial topic was obvious: it was precisely the question of responsibility for the death of Jiang Jiamin and other envoys.

Everyone knows that the person who should take responsibility is naturally the supreme leader of the mission, Prime Minister Shao An. Gao Wei grasped this fatal point and unceremoniously played impeachment, although he did not say that it was Shao An's fault, but between the lines, the responsible person was mentioned everywhere, and every sentence was sarcastic.

Shao An did not defend this, after all, most of what Gao Wei said was true, but it was just a slight exaggeration. In the past few days, Shao An has also suffered deeply in his heart, maybe he can finally escape punishment, but he will be tortured from the depths of his soul for the rest of his life, and he will not be at peace.

The people on Shao An's side also reacted extremely quickly, and Ni Hongyu immediately wrote a book, counting the various exploits of the prime minister since he took office, hoping to offset the merits. Sun Yi and Peng Yuanping also interceded for him, hoping that the saint would be punished lightly.

The cardinals stopped doing it, and continued to write a more fierce excerpt, directly pointing out that if they did not quit, the undead would be uneasy and the people would be indignant. In addition to Gao Wei, there are also several old generals such as Song Qi and others.

As a result, the political struggle between the two people changed to the political struggle between the two governments, and then rose to the political struggle between the prime party and the cardinal party. At this point, the party struggle in Tai'an has really kicked off. However, at that time, no one expected that the political struggle between the two parties would become more and more intense, and the scope of the struggle would be wide, it would last for a long time, and it would involve a large number of personnel, which was comparable to the dispute between the two parties of the prince and the king of the previous dynasty.

At this time, even the long-dormant Yushitai wanted to join in the fun, Yu Chengping was active in the political arena again, and impeached Shao An on charges of favoritism and fraud, recruiting power and building the party. This charge was simply false, and the Xiangdang quickly made a fierce counterattack, accusing Yu Chengping of impeaching the important minister without any real evidence. The emperor then ordered Cheng Ping to be a minister.

Poor Lord Yu just wanted to go in and join in, but he was ruthlessly kicked out not long after. It's only to blame him for being confused for a while, forgetting that the right to conduct rumors in the Imperial History Observatory has long been abolished, and he happened to be caught by the handle and let the emperor kill the chicken and make an example.

Yu Chengping's resignation indirectly showed the emperor's attitude. Only then did people realize that Shao An had not lost the trust of the emperor. The Xiang Party immediately regrouped and was determined to regain the lost rivers and mountains.

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After the next dynasty, as soon as Shao An entered Zhongshu Province, he heard Liu Ruqing report that several adults were waiting for him in the political hall. Sure enough, as soon as I arrived at the door, I saw Sun Yi, Ni Hongyu, Peng Yuanping, and even Jiang Si sitting inside from a distance.

Shao An entered, Ni Hongyu, Peng Yuanping and Jiang Si hurriedly got up and saluted respectfully. Only Sun Yi and the others finished saluting, and Fang Gong arched his hand and said, "Shao Xiang." ”

Shao An nodded in return, knowing the purpose of their coming at the moment, so he quietly stepped forward and sat down, waiting for them to speak.

Peng Yuanping couldn't hold his breath at first, and said indignantly: "The cardinal party is too deceitful this time, and he is bent on squeezing Shao An out of the court, and he doesn't weigh his own weight. Now that you're in a good position, why don't you fight back and let them know that we're not easy to bully either. ”

Jiang Si, who was in the last seat, nodded again and again, and couldn't wait to pat himself on the back and said: "With the majesty of Shao Xiang, who dares to disagree?" For example, Lord Yu of the Yushitai dared to offend the prime minister, and he was not driven back to his hometown in a gray manner. Whoever dares to provoke again in the future is an example. ”

Ni Hongyu frowned slightly, and glanced at Jiang Xi coldly. Previously, because of Shao An's words, this person was promoted to the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, so he thought that he could enter the eyes of the prime minister, and sharpened his head and was about to squeeze into the prime minister's party. These days often pestering Shao An, all kinds of sycophants. As Jiang Jiamin's cousin, he said those flattering lies, but he didn't respond at all.

Because of his guilt for Jiang Jiamin, Shao An opened one eye and closed one eye, and was extremely tolerant of Jiang Si, without the slightest disgust on his face. This time it was the same, Shao An nodded slightly, agreeing with Jiang Si's speech.

Just when everyone's morale was high, Ni Hongyu put forward the opposite opinion, "The lower officials think that if they see it, they will accept it, and we don't have to push the cardinal party too hard, otherwise it will cause a greater backlash." It's better to give in and forget it. ”

Sun Yi shook his head, "Gao Zizhong is a stubborn person, he will not stop." Yu Zhongping is gone, but he is not a member of the cardinal, and the cardinal party has not lost anything. It is not yet known who will win and who will lose. ”

"What is Lord Sun's opinion?" Shao An finally asked.

"Lord Ni doesn't like to fight, and he is too weak in dealing with things. The official believes that it is first necessary to put aside the matter of the murder of the mission, so that the cardinal party can no longer make trouble with it. Secondly, it depends on the attitude of the cardinals, and when they retreat, we can retreat. ”

Shao An looked at Sun Yi and then at Ni Hongyu, the balance in his heart swayed and hesitated. It stands to reason that Sun Yi's suggestion is just right and very pertinent. According to the situation, the murder of the mission this time was indeed Shao An's fault, and there was always a hurdle in his heart, and he couldn't get over it, because he didn't have the strength to fight wits and courage with Gao Wei.

Ni Hongyu asked rhetorically: "Dare to ask Lord Sun, how can the affairs of the mission be settled?" ”

Before Sun Yi could speak, Jiang Si stood up first and said excitedly: "Xia Guan can intercede for the prime minister on behalf of the Jiang Mansion." ”

Everyone sighed silently, after all, Jiang Xi and Xiangdang were too close, and if they spoke at this moment, they were afraid that it would not be enough.

Sun Yi smiled incomprehensibly, "Lord Ni, don't worry, if one person goes out, it will definitely be done." ”

The rest of the people didn't guess who the mysterious person Sun Yi was referring to, only Shao An guessed it, he turned his head to meet Sun Yi's eyes, and smiled.

※※※※※

Everything was as Sun Yi deduced, and after a short truce, Gao Wei launched a new round of attacks again. And Gao Wei's camp also gradually expanded, and even Song Yi, the son of the old general of Song, Zhang Ling, the general of the northwest, and others also participated.

Jiang Xi made his own claims, saying that life and death are fate, and Jiang Jiamin's death was nothing to do with anyone. This performance not only did not resolve the predicament, but made people ridicule Jiang Si for patronizing and hugging the prime minister's thigh, and even his cousin could be abandoned. Even the people in the prime party were scolded, saying that they were shameless to the prime minister.

Jiang Si did bad things with good intentions, so that the party that had just swept away the decline was dealt another blow, and Shao An was very speechless to him, so he had to let Ni Hongyu and Peng Yuanping take the lead, and led the officials of the household department to launch a wheel war against the cardinal party.

Playing with a pen is a necessary skill for literati, and fighting is their specialty, how can those old and rough generals be the opponents of civilian officials? I saw them quoting scriptures and classics, and with a wave of it, they wrote thousands of words at every turn. From supporting the army to self-respecting, to inappropriate rhetoric, all of them have become the reason for the fight.

Under the fierce bombardment of civil officials, many people in the cardinal party were impeached for some trivial matters and suffered greatly. It stands to reason that at this point, Gao Wei will not get any benefit no matter how persistent. But his grievances with Shao An are by no means a struggle for interests and power. Even if both sides lose, Gao Wei will carry this struggle to the end.

Gao Wei doesn't know how to write the rhetorical articles of civil officials, but he is better at sharp words, and only attacks Jiang Jiamin, which is quite a kind of momentum not to give an explanation and vow not to give up. The poor emperor, after reading dozens of Gao Wei's almost identical letters, was finally overwhelmed and wrote a reply: hand it over to the Ministry of Rites.

The emperor's mud is quite cleverly reconciled, since it is related to the former Ministry of Rites and officials of the Ministry of Rites, then leave it to the Ministry of Rites to deal with itself, don't bother me anymore.

So everyone's focus was on the head of the new secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Dong Qiming, who was entangled with Shao An's grievances and grievances, and was also an enemy and friend, which side should he stand on?

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(1) Kaifu Yi and the three divisions: scattered official names, from a product. Kaifu: It means to establish a government office and choose its own subordinates. Yitong Sansi: refers to the three princes (Taifu, Taishi, Taibao) and give the same treatment as the three dukes.