When everyone heard it, yes, the prefect is only an official of the fourth grade, and compared with a book of the second grade, it is not a level at all, no wonder the prefect of Qin is powerless.

That person was too arrogant and domineering, and even the dignified Shuntian prefect had to avoid his edge, and the leader of the prisoners sighed secretly in his heart. However, he is also a man who is not afraid of power, and he does not want today's demonstration to be abandoned halfway, so after thinking about it, he said: "In this case, we should go to his house to have a look!" ”

With the leader, the common people came to the momentum, and they followed a group of prisoners to the gate of Wang's mansion.

Wang Zhonghua is indeed at home. The demonstration outside the Yamen of Shuntian Mansion, before Qin Yonggui sent someone to Wang's Mansion, Wang Zhonghua had already received information, and he didn't want to deal with it, so he asked the housekeeper to send the people sent by Qin Yonggui. It's just that he didn't expect that Qin Yonggui would be so disrespectful of his colleagues and bring the demonstrators to Wang's mansion.

Hearing the housekeeper's report, Wang Zhonghua was almost so frightened that he peed his pants. Where has he experienced such a scene, outside the gate of Wang's Mansion, a group of people who are black and oppressive, although they are not making loud noises, but the formation is really majestic.

What to do? Wang Zhonghua was pacing in the backyard in a cold sweat, but his mind was blank - it was a mixture of emotions such as shock and anger, fear and hatred, forming a unique phenomenon of "downtime".

Although Wang Zhonghua is the secretary of the Criminal Department, only he knows that this position is not as powerful as the outside world imagines. Although the six Shangshu of the Ming Dynasty were all members of the imperial court, the status of each ministry was still different.

Among the six ministries, the most powerful must be the Ministry of Officials, because they are in charge of the appointment, dismissal, evaluation, promotion, transfer, and awarding of civil officials across the country. As long as it is an official below the fourth grade, whether it is a Beijing official or a local official, it is within its jurisdiction, so the Ministry of Officials also has the title of "Heavenly Official".

If it is the department with the most oil and water, the household department should be second to none. For no other reason, the household department is in charge of the land, household registration, currency, taxes, income, and finances of the whole country. No matter which department or level of government wants to spend money, the household department has to take out the money from its pocket, no matter who it is, it will definitely be polite to the household department, so the household department is also called "local officials".

When it comes to who is the most noble among the six ministries, the Ministry of Rites must be in charge, because they are in charge of the national system of regulations, sacrifices, schools, and imperial examinations. Especially in the imperial examination, the future talents of the imperial court can only go to this single-plank bridge, and the first to have a relationship with them is the officials of the Ministry of Rites. Since the triennial examination is in the spring, that is, "Chunqiu", the Ministry of Rites is also called "Chunguan".

In addition, in the late Ming Dynasty, there was an unwritten rule that the first assistant of the cabinet would concurrently serve as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites. Like the former Shoufu Shen Shixing, and the current Shoufu Zhao Zhigao both sat on the throne of the Shoufu and served as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites.

As for the military department, because the marching and fighting are mostly in the summer, it has the title of "summer officer". The Ministry of War is in charge of the selection of military attachés, military registration, ordnance, military orders, post stations, etc., and is also a yamen with great power and a lot of oil and water. If it weren't for the Ming Dynasty's "rule of the country with literature", the status of civil officials was higher than that of military attachés, and the military department still had the possibility of competing with the officials; In times of major war, the power of the military department may rise to the top of the six.

The Criminal Department is a department that does not have much oil and water, and does not have much power, and it is in charge of the country's laws, prisons, and case trials. If it is a major case, it will also be tried by the "three divisions" with the Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Since most of the executed criminals are executed in the autumn, everyone often hears the saying "the autumn queen asks to behead", so the criminal department is also called the "autumn official".

The Ministry of Industry is in charge of various projects, water conservancy, craftsmen, tuntian, transportation and other government decrees throughout the country. Regardless of the dynasty or generation, the "construction departments" engaged in various projects can easily make a fortune, and their welfare is better than that of most officials. Since the project is generally carried out in winter, most of the projects are carried out in winter, so the Ministry of Industry is also called "Winter Official".

It can be seen that in fact, the Shangshu of the Criminal Department may not be able to do a better job than the squire of the real power department, not to mention that Zhong Nan, the right squire of the Ministry of War, still has the blessing of the emperor's "holy family".

Things continue to ferment.

Zhu Yijun, who was in the Forbidden City, received the news on the fourth day of junior high school, but all he learned was the traffic accident between Zhong Nan and Mrs. Wang. It was only on the fifth day of the new year that I heard those rumors from Zhang Whale's mouth.

Zhu Yijun has long known that few of his courtiers have clean butts. It's just that they need to deal with government affairs, so as long as it's not too much, the emperor will turn a blind eye.

In the recent rumors in the market, Wang Zhonghua instructed his uncle and brother in his hometown to annex a large amount of land, and there were several life lawsuits for this purpose, but in the end they were all resolved. Not only that, Wang Zhonghua's wife and several concubines are also masters of accumulating money, and they actually own many properties in Beijing. In addition, it is said that Wang Zhonghua himself has something to do with the White Lotus Sect.

"Send someone to check it out and see if it's true." The rest of Zhu Yijun can be regarded as not seeing, but he has something to do with an anti-government organization like the White Lotus Sect, which is equivalent to a taboo of direct rebellion.

Zhang Whale is in charge of the East Factory, and if this kind of thing is really investigated, it will definitely not be difficult for him. After quietly exiting the imperial study, Zhang Whale arranged for manpower, and at the same time asked Wang Zhong to pass the news to Zhong Nan.

As the closest eunuch by the emperor's side, Zhang Whale can conclude: Wang Zhonghua is finished. No matter what the final result is, Wang Zhonghua can't turn over, and the only thing that can't be determined is whether he will be dismissed or will be beheaded. It depends on the person who wants to bring down Wang Zhonghua, what materials are prepared, and the amount of energy of the other party.

Strictly speaking, Zhang Whale and Wang Zhonghua are still a little offset. That was the matter in front of Qiba, Zhang Whale was not a great eunuch at that time, he was on an errand under Zhang Hong, who was the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor at the time.

Because he and Wang Zhonghua fell in love with a field on the outskirts of Beijing at the same time, Wang Zhonghua relied on his identity as the secretary of the criminal department to snatch the field from Zhang Whale, who arrived first. Although Zhang Whale was angry in his heart at that time, the situation was stronger than people, and he could only suffer from that nest of anger.

Later, after Feng Bao was overthrown, Zhang Jing sat on the high position of the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch Bingbi, and then the commander of Dongchang, becoming the de facto first eunuch of the harem. The conflict between him and Wang Zhonghua was gradually forgotten, but Zhang Whale also buried a trace of hatred for Wang Zhonghua in his heart.

Wang Zhonghua has been sitting in the position of the secretary of the criminal department for nearly ten years, although he almost controls the criminal department, but his opponents are not without him. Not to mention, in the Criminal Department alone, there is a person who has been hoping that he will be unlucky, and this person is Liu Donghai, the right waiter.

Liu Donghai had the opportunity to be promoted to the next level four years ago and sat in the second-in-command position of the left waiter of the Criminal Department, but was suppressed by Wang Zhonghua. Since then, Liu Donghai has hated Wang Zhonghua.

Wang Zhonghua is clear about Liu Donghai's dissatisfaction and hatred. Although he also wanted to find an opportunity to clean up this restless subordinate, Liu Donghai had some originals, and he never gave him a chance, and he still sat in the position of the right attendant of the Criminal Department until now.

Wang Zhong told Zhong Nan all this information at the same time. For this gift, Zhong Nan had no reason not to laugh, while he thanked the other party, he also figured out Zhang Whale's appeal.

On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Zhong Nan and Liu Donghai met in private, and got another useful news - Xiong Jiazheng, the secretary of Dali Temple, had the opportunity to get involved in the post of secretary of the criminal department a few years ago, and was later destroyed by Wang Zhonghua.

Things are much easier now.

For Zhong Nan, the collapse of Wang Zhonghua is not the ultimate goal, but what he wants is to obtain some political benefits. To put it bluntly, it is to add some strength to your faction. There are only two ways to achieve this goal: either to support your own people and sit in the vacant positions created by this incident; Or help the person who wants to sit in the open position and pull them into their camp.

Zhong Nan counted the group of officials under him, and no one could have a relationship with the political and legal committee system, so he could only take the latter path.

After Wang Zhonghua stepped down, the most likely person to sit in the position of secretary of the Criminal Department was Xiong Jiazheng, the secretary of Dali Temple. Then after the Xiong family is taking up his new position, the vacant position can be operated; There is also the fact that the left servant Lang Gaofeng of the Criminal Department is originally Wang Zhonghua's hardcore descendant, and it is very likely that he will be hit together this time; If you add the positions that are also vacant after Liu Donghai takes office, there may be three vacant positions.

Zhong Nan found Sun Chengzong, Shi Qian, Ye Xianggao and others, deliberated and discussed repeatedly, and finally decided to help Liu Donghai go further and pull him into his camp.

There are three main reasons why Liu Donghai was chosen, first, the other party has no backstage, so it is easy to win over; Second, Liu Donghai's ability is still good, otherwise he would have been taken out by Wang Zhonghua a long time ago; Third, Liu Donghai also needs to find a backer, when Zhong Nan met him before, he faintly revealed his intention to take refuge.

On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, Xiong Jiazheng made an appointment to meet Zhong Nan, and the two talked secretly for more than two hours, reaching a consensus on the action plan and the main issues after the completion of the matter.

After this meeting, Zhong Nan met with Liu Donghai again. After Liu Donghai made it clear that he would take refuge, Zhong Nan made a promise to help the other party sit in the position of Zuo Shilang of the Criminal Department or Dali Siqing. Both are the three official ranks of the political and legal committee system, the difference is that although Dali Temple does not have the power of the criminal department, Dali Temple Qing is the head of one department, at least it can be the master of one acre and three points of land.

After the preparations were completed, the battle began. From the eighteenth day of the first month to the twentieth day of the first month, for three consecutive days, there were officials who impeached Wang Zhonghua, the secretary of the Criminal Department.