Ten miles long pavilion on the outskirts of Beijing.

"Brother Wensi, the mountains are high and the waters are long, take care all the way!" …… Sun Shenxing's words are heard. The emperor has issued an order that Sun Shenxing should be dismissed from his post and leave Beijing, and the will cannot be violated, and Sun Shenxing can only regret leaving Beijing. The first assistant Ye Xianggao, the second assistant Han Yi, and a cadre of Donglin party members came to see them off, all the way to Shili Pavilion, and then they gave up.

"Everyone, let's stay, and the burden of supporting the government and destroying the evil will be all please." Sun Shenxing bowed his hand to the comrades who came to see him off, and then turned around with his family and the income of many years of eunuchs.

Looking at Sun Shenxing's back, the Ministry of Rites Shangshu [***] Xing sighed: "Brother Wen Si is gone, we have one less capable general. Speaking of this, he gritted his teeth fiercely, "Yue Su! Don't look at the emperor who favors you now, sooner or later, one day, I will let you know what will happen if you are against us. ”

Following, [***] Xing looked at Ye Xianggao, "Brother Jinqing, what do you think we should do next?" ”

Ye Xianggao Zi Jinqing, sighed first when he heard the words, and looked up at the sky, as if he was expressing the emotion in his chest. "The annihilation of the people is in charge, the gentleman is covered with dust, and we and other people of insight must now unite as one, take it as our responsibility to uphold justice and eradicate the annihilation. Brother Yuhe, in the blink of an eye, Jingcha said, as long as you do this important thing well, it will be enough. This time, there will be no mercy, and all evil spirits in the DPRK and China will be eliminated. Anyone who has insight should be promoted as much as possible. "The so-called annihilation of evil in the DPRK and China is worthy of non-Donglin Party members. In the hearts of the Donglin Party members, as long as they are not my comrades, they are all villains. As for the so-called people of insight, of course, they are from the Donglin Party. As for whether he formed a party for personal gain, he naturally turned a blind eye.

After hearing this, he nodded and said, "Brother Jinqing, don't worry, this matter is on me." ”

Then, I heard Ye Xianggao say: "Wen Ru, Zhizhi, you two don't be idle recently, send more people to visit, check if Yue Su has any illegal behavior, I don't believe he has always been fair and selfless." For others, you can listen to the wind, but for him, without some real evidence, the emperor will never touch him. ”

Yang Lian's character is literate, and the left light bucket character is straight. Both of them are senior cadres of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

"Brother Jinqing, don't worry." Zuo Guangdou replied directly.

"Brother Jinqing......" Yang Lian did not nod, but said: "Since that Yue Su entered Beijing, he has eradicated the annihilation, avenged the grievances of the people, and governed the Jingshi in an orderly manner, and the people have praised it. Although Brother Wensi's matter is related to him, he is also on the matter. I think...... Let's not embarrass him......"

"Wen Ru, you are a woman's benevolence, this Yue Su is just a vain appearance, and he is just selling his reputation and reputation. All he eradicated were small fish and shrimp, the real evil leader, you see who he touched. Last time, I asked Wang Wenyan to lobby him, hoping that he would make it clear to His Majesty that he would serve the sacraments of the guest, so as to wipe out the annihilation party in one fell swoop. This is obviously cowardly and afraid, it is not clear that he is in the same party as Wei Zhongxian and them at all, and the one on the Golden Palace is just a show. Otherwise, he said that he was in the Jianji Palace, why did he say good things for Wei Biao. Ye Xianggao said unhappily.

"I can't say that, above the Golden Palace, Yue Su has been forced to resign, and no one in the Manchu Dynasty has spoken for him. In such a situation, how can he dare to pick on the things of the guest to serve the saint again. I have also heard about the matter of building the Extreme Palace, and it really has nothing to do with Wei Zhongxian, and Yue Su is also ......"

As soon as Yang Lian said this, he heard Ye Xianggao shout, "Enough!" ”

"Wen Ru, how can you turn your elbow outward, you must know that if it is not my comrade, his heart will be different, these people are all stumbling blocks for us Kuangfu Sheji. You don't have to do the matter of collecting evidence of Yue Su's crimes, just leave it to Zhizhi alone. Ye Xianggao glanced at Yang Lian very dissatisfied, turned around and left. The other Donglin Party members followed one after another, but Yang Lian was the only one who did not move. Zuo Guangdou, who was beside him, pulled him and said in a low voice: "Wen Ru, you are too upright, and Jinqing is also for my generation, so you can follow his wishes and say a few words." ”

Yang Lian nodded helplessly, and then turned around with Zuo Guangdou to follow.

Ye Xianggao, who was in front, said again at this time: "Xiangyun, Shicheng, and Yuhe, after you return to the city, follow me to the house." Wen Si is gone, the lack of the Ministry of Rites can't fall on outsiders, let's discuss it and see who should do it. ”

Among the six departments, the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of War have the greatest rights, and the Ministry of Household and Ministry of Industry have the most oil and water. But if you have this kind of thinking, you are very wrong, because in the Ming Dynasty, once you became the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, then congratulations, you have already stepped into the cabinet with one foot.

It can be said that in the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet members were not necessarily all born in the Ministry of Rites, but when they became the ministers of the Ministry of Rites, they could basically enter the cabinet. The current cabinet members, Ye Xianggao, Han Yi, Shi Jikai, Shen Xiao, and He Zongyan, have all successively served as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites. From this, we can also see the important surname of this ritual book.

Ye Xianggao wanted to take this errand on his own head, so why didn't the other big man in the court want to. Although Wei Zhongxian's authority is not small, he has always had insufficient weight in the court, because there is no one in the cabinet who is his.

Now that Sun Shenxing, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, has fallen, this lack can no longer be held in the hands of the Donglin Party. So, when Ye Xianggao was discussing, the Wei Mansion was also planning.

In the Houhua Hall of the Wei Mansion, Wei Zhongxian sat at the top, and on the lower left sat Feng Quan, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, and Hou Guoxing, the commander of the Jinyi Guard; Sitting on the lower right hand are Gu Bingqian, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, and a person named Wei Guangwei.

Wei Guangwei was originally the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing, but because of corruption, he was taken in. In desperation, he ran to Yanjing, wanting to borrow the reason of Jingcha and get another official position. Wei Guangwei's father, Wei Yunzhen, served as an overseer of the imperial history, and was a minister who was not afraid of the powerful, and had some friendship with the current official Shangshu [***] Xing. After Wei Guangwei came to the capital, he did not immediately defect to Wei Zhongxian, but went to find the [***] star first, but was rejected by the [***] star and ignored him. Later, I heard that Corporal Lixian was here under Gonggong Wei, so he came to Mao Sui to recommend himself. Because he had the same surname as Wei Zhongxian, he simply recognized Wei Zhongxian as his uncle.

"Four, now that Sun Shenxing has left, and the position of Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites is vacant, I think Ye Xianggao's group will definitely ask the emperor to install their own people in charge of the Ministry of Rites. This position is very important, and we don't have any one in the cabinet, so we are at a disadvantage and controlled by others. This time, I decided that I had to fight for the position. Think about who is more appropriate. Wei Zhongxian unhurriedly stated the purpose of recruiting everyone here.

"Dugong, what you said is right, because we have no one in the cabinet, and the affairs of the court are completely controlled by the Donglin Party, not only many places are suppressed by Donglin, but even that little Yue Su, we can't punish it. It's so infuriating. This time, we must fight for this Ministry of Rites book. "When it comes to official positions here, Feng Quan, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, is the largest, and he is the first to say that he stands with Gonggong Wei. Then he said: "The lower officials are not talented, but now they have sat in the Ministry of Industry and have been transferred to the Ministry of Rites, and no one in the court should be able to say half a word." Governor, can you propose to Your Majesty that a subordinate be the officer? The loyalty of the subordinate to the governor, you know it. ”

Don't look at the Ministry of Works, there is a lot of oil and water, but who doesn't want to go to the next level in authority and enter the cabinet center, this is the dream of all officials.

Wei Zhongxian nodded and said, "What you said is right, it is indeed suitable for you to be the secretary of the Ministry of Rites." ”

As soon as he heard that Gonggong Wei intended to let Feng Quan serve as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Gu Bingqian didn't do it. Now in the entire Ministry of Rites, a Shangshu has stepped down, and Wang Chuanxiao, the left waiter, has also been imprisoned in Zhaojiao. Who wants to be a deputy for life. The relationship between Feng Quan and Wei Gonggong and the Hakka family, Gu Bingqian couldn't be clearer, he didn't dare to confront him face to face, he just said with a smile: "Dugong, Feng Shangshu is the best candidate for this Ministry of Rites, but the lower officials think that the errand of the Ministry of Industry cannot be lost, Feng Shangshu, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year, if he is transferred to the Ministry of Rites, once the Ministry of Industry is let the people from Donglin take it, it will not be worth the loss." ”

"Hmm." As soon as he heard this, Wei Zhongxian nodded again, half of the silver that Feng Quan had embezzled from his side fell into his pocket, such a large amount of money, if it was lost because of the fight for a Ministry of Rites, it would indeed be distressing. At that moment, Wei Zhongxian said: "Yi'an, then who do you say will fill it?" ”

Gu Bingqian's word Yi'an. "Duke, the lower official is now the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and the Lord of the Left Waiter is inconvenient now, and it is not impossible for the lower official to serve as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites. The loyalty of the lower officials to the governor is absolutely heavenly. ”

Speaking of this, Gu Bingqian suddenly got up and took two steps to the middle, lifted his clothes, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed three times at Wei Zhongxian. "Dugong, I originally planned to recognize you as a father, but I am afraid that you will think that I am too old and unwilling, so ask for my son to be your grandson!"

Shameless, people are shameless to this extent, it is really indescribable. This Gu Bingqian was born in the twenty-ninth year of Jiajing (1550), Wei Zhongxian, and was born in the second year of Longqing (1568). Gu Bingqian was eighteen years older than Wei Zhongxian, and he was so embarrassed that his son recognized Wei Zhongxian as his grandfather, and he was willing to be his son.

Feng Quan was shameless enough, but he really didn't expect that this benevolent brother was even better than himself. The Ministry of Rites, he really wants to do it, but Feng Quan doesn't want to throw it away. When he was hesitating and didn't know whether to stand up, he saw that Wei Zhongxian had already stood up, took two steps forward to support Gu Bingqian, and said with a smile: "Yi'an, your loyalty, the old man knows." In this case, the position of the secretary of the Ministry of Rites will be filled by you. The old man will return to the palace and recommend you to His Majesty. As he spoke, he helped Gu Bingqian up.

"Thank you, father." Seeing that Wei Zhongxian agreed, Gu Bingqian thanked him shamelessly.

Wei Guangwei on the side also joked: "Congratulations to my uncle for being a filial son and a virtuous grandson." Brother Yi'an, we will be a family from now on. ”

Feng Quan saw that Wei Zhongxian had given the errand to Gu Bingqian, and he couldn't raise any more objections, so he immediately turned the wind around and said, "Congratulations to the Dugong, today I am happy to have a filial son and a virtuous grandson." Congratulations also to Brother Yi'an, who was promoted to the Ministry of Rites. ”

Immediately, the flower hall became a joyful and peaceful atmosphere. When Gu Bingqian said a few more words of humility and returned to the chair and sat down, at this time, a person came to the outside of the hall and said, "Father-in-law, the matter you asked me to check about Zou Jiaren has been investigated. ”

(To be continued)