In fact, whether it is in front of Xu Cifu or in front of Guide Chitose, Lord Li has made the appearance of diligently pursuing and becoming a benevolent person if he does not succeed, half of the reason is to express his mind accurately and avoid misjudgment among his backers, so as to seek help for himself as much as possible.

The other half of the reason is to pretend to be tragic and sympathetic, and if something happens and you need to retreat, you can always get a little more benefit as a mourner.

Asking others for help, if you show that you don't even value yourself, then others will only say that your mentality is dispensable, and they will not work hard for you, so Li You must show that he is bound to win.

Li You asked himself, this is no longer a struggle for survival, but to pursue a higher level of life goals, is it considered to get out of low-level interests and move towards high-level interests? Or has it gone from a casual gamer to a heavy addict?

I have to say that Lord Li's idea is still quite effective, at least the eldest princess of Guide has taken the initiative to offer the honest price of Shaofu Shaoqing with guilt, so that Li You, who has made great contributions, will be swept away from her complaints in his heart.

But the real concern of the eldest princess of Guide is not Li You's official position. The queen mother's attitude this time is extremely firm, she knows it, Li You's personality of not giving up until he reaches his goal, she also knows...

This year, she took great pains to slightly mend the queen mother's grudge against Li You, and was willing to pretend to be confused and let Li You return to Beijing. If Li You and the queen mother go toe-to-toe today, and a conflict breaks out again, it will be difficult for her to stand on a political stand, or on the position of relatives and friends, and it will be really sad.

It is said that the Son of Heaven has not returned from his southern tour, and the court meetings held every three, six, and nine have been suspended for four months, which is like letting the officials of the Beijing Division take a four-month vacation. It is very painful to get up in the early morning to go to the palace to go to the palace, and it is indeed a very unpopular thing.

Therefore, during this time, unless the Empress Dowager Cisheng summoned the ministers to discuss political affairs, it was rare to see the ministers entering the palace in groups.

But in the last month. The Empress Dowager Cisheng did not summon the ministers, so that the ministers realized what it means to be "thousands of miles of kings" and "difficult to see".

OK. The Ming Dynasty never collapsed because the king did not show up. On the contrary, when there is a big problem, it is often when the king is too positive, such as the orthodox Northern Hunt, and Chongzhen's diligence.

Contrary to the cold reception of the ministers, the nobles and ministers have frequently entered the palace recently. Although the guards guarding the palace gate never asked about political affairs. But seeing this situation, I can also see a change in wind direction.

Whether the honorable relatives are in power or not. Like the inner prison, it is entirely derived from the power of the monarchy. If the imperial power approves it, it will gain power quickly, of course, if it is abandoned by the imperial power. Losing ground will also be quick. This is different from the self-contained civil service. With or without the approval of the monarchy, the state apparatus is always maintained by civil officials.

On the ninth day of the eighth month, it was supposed to be the day of the court meeting, but it was logically stopped again. However, in the early morning, dozens of people gathered outside the noon gate, all of whom were members of the six departments, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Administration Department, and the Dali Temple, which were above the third rank in the yamen. As well as the head of the Taoist official, a number of relatives who were summoned by the Queen Mother.

Needless to say. It's all for today's court push, and the ministers attach great importance to it.

In fact, this five-grade official is not very big, although the value is very much, but compared with the Zaifu, Shangshu, and Governor Fu launched by the Zeng court, it is much worse. But there is something worth paying attention to, this is the first time that the Queen Mother has summoned her ministers recently...

After more than a year, Li You silently passed through the right gate, Chengtian gate, and end gate of Chang'an, and stood outside the majestic and magnificent noon gate again. He saw Wufeng Tower, Xu Cifu, Yang Ge Lao, and even Xu Shoufu and Peng Ge Lao.

As the candidate to be selected, in order to avoid suspicion, Lord Li did not have to greet and entertain the princes in broad daylight, but could stand quietly aside and wait for the summons in the palace, just like the other four candidates. ..., he made the last analysis and deduction of today's court tui in his heart, and he was still not sure at all, and the probability of his election was indeed very low.

He knew that the biggest obstacle today was still the Empress Dowager Cisheng, and only two points were clear about this. First, Empress Dowager Qian was determined not to let him be the governor of the five cities this time; The second is that Empress Dowager Qian must be prepared for this. The rest of the enemy situation is basically ignorant of the situation, and the typical confidant does not know the other, and it is difficult to win.

And the courtiers he should rely on are not necessarily reliable. Most of them were cautious and had the idea of waiting and seeing, not to mention that among the several candidates, the courtiers did not necessarily support his selection.

From the overall point of view, among the three candidates representing the courtiers' tendencies, Lord Li is only afraid that the Queen Mother is the least selfish, and those two people are okay, they have no grievances with the Queen Mother, but they were pushed to the front of the stage because of official business.

The Queen Mother has already put on a tough attitude at the expense of tearing her face, which shows how much she values it. If Li You is still selected in this situation, it is tantamount to taking advantage of it and selling it well, and offending the Queen Mother to death.

She is no one else, she is now the Empress Dowager Bingzheng, and then the biological mother of the Son of Heaven, who angers the Empress Dowager too much, and is prone to unpredictable consequences.

In all fairness, even if the courtiers have been in a stalemate with the Queen Mother so far, they still have the thought that "it is not worth it to turn their faces for this".

Judging from the selfishness of most ministers, they all know that Li You is not only a thorn in the side of Empress Dowager Qian, but also a thorn in the flesh of many elders. There is this kind of emotion, if most of the elders take the lead in electing others, then they still have to stubbornly promote Li You, I am afraid that they will be remembered by the elders.

Thinking of this, Li You sighed, Xu Cifu was right. Tingtui does not see how many people strongly support you, but how many people strongly oppose you. Most people, out of the intention of not offending others, follow the crowd as long as they have nothing to do with themselves.

Six scholars, four against him, even if one was not present, but it was still the overwhelming majority. Once the four scholars have chosen someone else, this is enough to form a momentum, and driven by this mentality, it will be hellish for him Li You to pass the test on Tingtui.

It's a very simple math problem, on this issue of a mere five-grade official position, it doesn't make much benefit for neutrals to support Li You or not, so they can't afford to lose money and make money, and risk offending four scholars for the sake of two scholars.

At this point, Li Da understood what is called popularity in officialdom and what is called raising hope. This situation can be regarded as the extraordinary price he paid for his unconventional development. Thinking of this, Li You secretly smiled bitterly.

But there are many ways for him to retreat. Whether it is to go to the Ministry of Officials to find a five-grade official to fill the vacancy, or to follow the eldest princess of Guide to be a young mansion and a young secretary. are all good choices. For this. Li You still thinks about it.

The inner eunuch went out of the palace to summon the ministers to meet him, which broke Li You's contemplation. He hurriedly touched his dick and followed behind the group through the noon gate.

Looking at the northernmost Huangji Gate Jintai on the opposite side of the Jinshui River, Li You turned around and headed west. It has been through the Guiji Gate and entered the Wuying Palace.

Go back to where you once fought. A familiar feeling came to his face, and Li You found that his mood was excited for some reason, as if he had returned to the bloody years in the cabinet. As one of the great turning points in life. It's something to be missed.

Couplets of pillars on both sides of the throne. It was still the year before last when he chanted in public in the palace, "If the country lives and dies for profit, how can it be avoided because of misfortune and fortune", the queen mother did not change her anger.

Perhaps the handwriting of this couplet was shown to the ministers, and the Queen Mother couldn't see it when she sat on the throne, so the nobles forgot about it.

With the shouts of the inner eunuchs, the Empress Dowager Cisheng came to the Wuying Palace. The ministers finished their salutes. Line up and wait quietly. ..., Li You and the other four candidates stood at the back of the crowd, near the temple gate. He raised his head and snapped a few curtains. But I couldn't see the expression behind the curtain at all.

I only heard the Empress Dowager Cisheng speak: "Since the beginning of this year, the Beijing division has been troubled, and there are many cases. Today it will be pushed, and the right people will be requested..."

Li You couldn't guess a few words of these opening remarks without listening, just waiting for the Queen Mother to say, "Let's wait for the start."

But there is a doubt that he has never been able to figure out once again in his heart, and in the past ten years, the court has been controlled by civil officials. What ability does Empress Dowager Qian have to break the monopoly of the civilian-bureaucratic clique today and push up the candidates she wants, so as to create the wind direction and demonstration effect she wants?

But it was said that after Empress Dowager Qian finished speaking, she didn't give an edict to start, but she suddenly had a cold arrow and asked the ministers under her ranks: "Has Li You arrived?" ”

Lord Li was racking his brains to observe the situation, but he didn't expect the Queen Mother to take him out alone to greet him, and he was caught off guard and almost made a mistake in front of the emperor, and hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Weichen is here." ”

"Young people are full of vigor, but they are also easy to be arrogant and intolerable..."The Queen Mother's holy voice came from behind the bead curtain, which seemed to be encouraging and comforting, and then said meaningfully: "Since you have returned to Beijing, don't attack each other with Mr. Xu, Yuan, Peng and other gentlemen, and you must give a few points to the old man's predecessors." ”

No way! Li You couldn't help but burst into foul language in his heart. The three gentlemen Xu, Yuan, and Peng in the mouth of the Queen Mother naturally refer to the three scholars. Empress Dowager Qian was afraid that others would not hold grudges against him, so she deliberately called him out to emphasize it?

He didn't know how to answer, could he say, "Our Lady is very true"? Doesn't that mean that you have to acquiesce to the old-timers and not deal with the old man? Isn't this a blow to the face of a scholar?

Master Li peeked at the scholars who were in the forefront of the ministers, others couldn't see clearly because of the angle, but Peng Ge Lao's face was obviously darkened.

For Peng Gelao, Li You is a scar in his heart, and the Queen Mother's words are tantamount to revealing the scar. In front of dozens of people, this is really embarrassing, and it is almost impossible to get off the stage. It is estimated that Xu Shoufu's mind is similar.

The Queen Mother did not embarrass Li You for too long in His Majesty Dan, and instructed: "Li You will return to the throne for the time being, and the court will start pushing." ”

Li You quickly returned to the position of the candidate to be selected, but saw that Zhao Tianguan, the secretary of the ministry, was out of the queue and was ready to preside over the court push. At this moment, two more people suddenly flashed beside him, both of whom kowtowed to the Empress Dowager Cisheng in His Majesty Dan.

One person said: "Weichen Jiao Shimei is not talented, and he is willing to withdraw from this election!" ”

Another said: "Weichen Shen Heling is shallow in virtue, and he thinks that he has no ability to do this, so he is willing to let Xian do it!" ”

There was an uproar in the hall when he boarded, and Li You was also surprised, but he didn't expect that at the beginning, two people took the initiative to withdraw.

Although he didn't know these two people, he also asked for the waiting list from Zuo Langzhong, and he knew that this Jiao Shimei should be the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture, and the other Shen Heling should be a member of the Criminal Department.

And the key is that among the five candidates, Jiao Shen and him, Li You, were all elected by civil officials through the selection process! And the other two were secretly withdrawn by the Queen Mother to fight in the ring.

After Jiao Shen and the two withdrew, then the candidate promoted by the civilian government was the only one left, Li You!